Solar Energy Monitoring System Design Using Radio Frequency for Remote Areas

Solar power plant (SPP) installation which is located in remote areas, provides some benefits for the community, not only an economic aspect but also social, and cultural improvements. Moreover, the SPP is used to exist an electrical load, which is combined with conventional power plants through some networks, or it is operated standalone in remote areas. This operation requires great efforts for controlling and monitoring because of a faraway location. In these studies, a remote monitoring system (RMS) is proposed and developed for monitoring performances of the photovoltaic power plant without visiting the location. The RMS sends data using a radio frequency and displays in voltage, current and power values. Test results show that a portable designing of RMS can be used to measure the SPP and it provides convenient monitoring for the operating condition and technical performance. This portable device is composed of a microcontroller, monitoring display, data sender and receiver, and battery. In addition, several tests show that the sunlight intensity measurement has an error compared with the measuring reference. Data testing is performed at fixed distances between the amount meters and time response also depends on the transmitting distance.