Industrial IoT-Based Monitoring Application for Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Systems

The increasing deployment of photovoltaic (PV) systems could potentially compromise the reliability of the power systems. The current lack of industrial standard monitoring platform providing comprehensive and detailed data is a significant concern for power system operators at all levels of the grid as they attempt to accommodate the growing number of PV installations. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has published multiple reports showing that the absence of insufficient monitoring data for post-event analysis at PV facilities. Additionally, most PV facilities do not have synchronized and continuous event data, which makes it challenging for operators to investigate the root causes of disturbances or outages. To improve the reliability of power grids and address these issues, this paper develops a prototype of an Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT)-based monitoring platform for grid-tied PV facilities using state-of-the-art and industry-standard hardware and software. The development of this platform considers scalability, modularity, customizability, expandability, and security of monitoring applications for the growing PV generation facilities. Long-term operation and maintenance factors are also considered in this design. The developed monitoring platform is tested using a three-phase grid-tied PV system. This developed platform can be utilized by utility companies, PV facilities owners, or system operators for high-quality monitoring purposes for different scales of PV systems at all levels of power grids.