Development of a Utility Model for the Measurement of Global Radiation in Photovoltaic Applications in the Internet of Things (IoT)

Abstract

In order to develop future projects in the field of photovoltaic solar energy, it is essential to accurately know the potential solar resources. There are many methods to estimate the incident solar radiation in a certain place. However, most of them are very expensive or do not have the ideal characteristics for good monitoring of a particular photovoltaic installation. For these reasons, an electronic device connected to the internet of things (IoT) is presented in this paper which manages to measure global radiation in photovoltaic applications. The device developed has been patented in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. It presents some features that make it very suitable to measure photovoltaic installations with the advantage of being a low cost and very reliable device. The device has been tested to determine global horizontal irradiance obtaining a correlation coefficient R2 = 0.994.

Benchmarking Analysis of the Panorama of Grid-Connected PV Installations in Spain

“…In this regard, the need to optimize operating conditions has led to the use of various techniques in the field of grid-connected plants. Thus, for example, techniques based on IoT are being incorporated to help solving problems related to the maintenance and management of the facilities, while adding advantages such as being non-invasive and low-cost techniques [9][10][11][12]. Likewise, in the case of plants with solar tracking, new tracking strategies are being designed and incorporated to optimize the capture of solar irradiance and, therefore, to increase electricity production levels [13,14].…”

An Improved Method for Obtaining Solar Irradiation Data at Temporal High-Resolution

“…Both characteristics are fundamental when it comes to knowing how much energy from the sun can be used. There are several procedures and methodologies to obtain solar irradiation: measured with different instruments [2][3][4], consult solar irradiation data bases and satellite images [5], or generation of synthetical series of solar irradiation [6,7]. There are mainly two time scales in which the studies on solar characterization have been well developed and studied: daily solar irradiation series and hourly solar irradiation series.…”