In The News

PV monitoring systems are software-driven devices that track the performance of a solar energy installation. They vary in terms of what they track and how it’s displayed, but most provide real-time and historical data, performance-based alerts, web-based (or cellular) monitoring and some give details on weather and some let you customize the presentation. For businesses that monitor a fleet of installations, many allow for multi-site tracking and comparisons. Monitoring systems range in capabilities from those that are able to monitor residential (up to 20 kW) and small commercial installations (up to 100 kW) all the way up to utility-scale, multi-megawatt projects. Because the tools are very different from one end of the spectrum to the other, we’ll focus here on the residential to small commercial monitoring systems.

Brehaut said that there are two ways to measure success in this market: number of megawatts or number of systems monitored. The market is split into four distinct segments: residential, small commercial, large commercial and utility-scale; with three vendor categories: independent monitoring firms like DECK Monitoring, Locus Energy, lease providers like SolarCity, SunPower and Sunrun, inverter suppliers like Enphase and SMA. Therefore, there is not one but many leaders. For example Brehaut’s report identified DECK Monitoring as the US leading independent monitoring provider in the small and large commercial segments, while Enphase leads in the residential market. The markets are so stratified with local requirements, cultural differences and financial schemes, that each geographic area has its own leader.

Other advances in PV monitoring will be seen in communication methods and the potential for new or more sophisticated applications. For example, some manufacturers are now offering monitoring systems that communicate over the cellular network rather than over the Internet. This can be more reliable, especially in the event that the Internet connection is lost (or a homeowner unplugs their router). Some, like the LGate smart meters from Locus Energy, offer both cellular and Ethernet connections. It also enables service technicians to get data from a cell phone no matter where they are.

Nearly 12,000 solar professionals gathered last week in Chicago at Solar Power International. Through conference sessions, trade show exhibits and networking events, it was clear that this industry overcome challenges and is now gaining traction. In the opening session, Rhone Resch, President and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association said “Welcome to the big leagues.”

With all the various types of monitoring systems, the industry has moved well beyond the why and how of solar and is now examining exactly what is happening with specific installations. AlsoEnergy recently acquired Deck Monitoring and announced that it will continue with both product lines targeted at commercial and utility-scale PV. Skytron’s solution goes beyond operations and management (O&M) of PV plants and into what Murad Can, Vice President Global Customer Operations at Skytron calls “energy efficiency management,” using algorithms for diagnosis and control. Santerno is an Italian O&M company that introduced PV Power Plant Controller that offers remote control on-web diagnostics. And Locus Energy provides residential solar monitoring solutions up to customized dashboards for managing fleets of solar assets.

As we’ve written before, solar monitoring is an absolute must for any new solar installation. Now Locus Energy has given installers two new options to do just that.

Locus Energy has launched the LGate 120 and 320 — its next generation of smart meters designed to allow solar installers and asset managers to more easily collect, monitor and analyze performance data from both residential and light commercial solar PV systems.

Locus Energy is out with a new product that expands solar monitoring capabilities.

Innovation is rare in the solar PV monitoring space, where the difference between competing products is often based on detailed features and functions, leaving the impression that all solutions are very similar. But the latest product announcement from Locus Energy has made a big splash and may change the game in the U.S. residential PV monitoring market.

In other words, so far U.S. PV system owners and operators have had to choose between Locus, a feature-rich metering and monitoring platform with reliability issues due to its dependency on the homeowner’s network, or another monitoring platform based on Itron, a highly reliable cellular metering solution with limited data and little troubleshooting capability. The Lgate 120 product announced by Locus today seems to resolve this dilemma.

The new Lgate 120 could lead the way for a new generation of residential PV metering and monitoring hardware for solar leasing and power purchase agreement firms.