Modeling and fault detection in photovoltaic systems using the I-V signature

Photovoltaic power plants are more and more numerous all over the planet. In France, profit of PV power plants is done by a fixed buying back price of electricity. The repurchase price of electricity is constant until 2020, then variability of electricity will begin. Thus, to keep PV power plant profitable, a new management model is necessary. This model includes resource prediction, fault detection and management of maintenance and servicing to maximize energy production. This paper focuses only on the fault detection. In the first part, we will present the I-V signature of the panel in healthy and faulty mode. Then, we will focus on the electrical model. This model permits us to simulate the cell, panel and string in healthy and faulty mode. Finally, we present the fault detection algorithm using the I-V signature.