Solar irradiance, wind and temperature monitoring for residential PV applications

Growing solar PV energy generation must be coupled with low cost monitoring schemes for its wider uptake. Conventional grid-tied PV systems, deployed generally in the developed countries, are supplemented with information available through weather stations and other established means. However, emerging regions of Africa and South Asia require low cost local monitoring for resource optimization, preemptive maintenance and accurate return-on-investment estimations. In this context, this paper proposes a design and implementation of a low cost, efficient monitoring station for residential and low cost PV deployments. The designed system included irradiance, wind and temperature sensors coupling the output of a solar PV system for accurate energy estimations.