Anyone who owns a PV system and has it monitored by a professional PV monitoring device or energy management system also wants to stay up to date while on the move. The apps of so-called PV energy management systems offer numerous functions for this purpose. In this article, we will show you which are the most important and what you need to consider in terms of data security.
Every app used to monitor the yield of a PV system should offer these four essential points:
- Recording of all relevant data.
- Information to the operator in case of irregularities.
- Simple visualization of yield and plant data.
- Data security.
1. Recording of all Relevant Data
In this function of the app, first of all you should know what the relevant PV plant data are and how to use them.
The most important values of a PV plant are:
- Production
- Feed-in
- Self-consumption
- Grid consumption
These values are determined by the energy management system. To do this, it must first be installed and configured accordingly. Once the data logger has been installed and the software configured, the values for production, feed-in, self-consumption, and grid consumption are output. Of course, feed-in, self-consumption, and grid consumption only occur when these processes take place. That is, when the system feeds in PV electricity, when the PV electricity is consumed directly on site and/or when electricity is drawn from the public grid.
What Lies Behind the Relevant Data
So why does one do all this data collection? The main reason is often money, because those who operate a PV system usually do not do it for fun. A plant is an investment object that has to perform.
The most important value is therefore productivity. The production value tells us whether the PV system actually produces the predicted solar power. What is produced must be further processed or converted into an added value. One option for this is to feed the PV electricity into the grid. This is then not consumed directly, but fed into the public power grid. The electricity fed into the grid is then paid for. Those who prefer to use their electricity themselves can see from the self-consumption value how high the share is. Last but not least, there is the grid purchase, i.e. how much electricity you had to buy in addition.
Energy Balance
These four values are summarized in the so-called energy balance in the app. They provide the system operator with information about his energy budget at any time.
