Development of data acquisition and management systems for real-time monitoring of photovoltaic installations across Hawaiʻi

Abstract

This thesis contains a detailed description of project work in the design, build, installation, troubleshooting, and operations of multiple photovoltaic (PV) data acquisition and monitoring systems across Hawaii in support of the Hawaiian Electric Company's (HECO) Sun Power for Schools (SPS) program. Teaming with the Hawaii Department of Education, the SPS program installs PV systems on the rooftops of public schools across Hawaii. A primary goal of the HECO SPS program is to teach and spread awareness of Hawaii's solar potential. As illustrated in Figure 1 below *1], SPS brings community leaders from HECO together with local students interested in solar energy. In a broader sense, the SPS project supports HECO's interest in renewable energy and their need for more comprehensive data and modeling to enable effective integration of PV and other renewable energy sources into future smart grid systems in the state of Hawaii. The work presented in this thesis specifically details the design, installation and operations of a total of 8 SPS sites that were installed with high speed data monitoring units developed by a project team at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH). These units were developed at UH to enable real-time monitoring and transient system analysis of PV performance and power generation under varying environmental conditions in Hawaiʻi. An important goal was the establishment of standard and reliable high-speed PV monitoring systems across Hawaiʻi to facilitate the development of statewide mapping of the time-varying solar resource, and to provide a better understanding of the impacts of PV power integrated into current grid systems or possible future smart grid systems. This thesis includes a brief history of the HECO SPS project, as well as a detailed description of the UH work in developing and deploying the new high-speed PV monitoring systems. Included are details of the hardware and software design parameters, the sensor and instrumentation, system build and deployment, system integration troubleshooting, and calibration procedures. Case studies are also presented using high-speed data acquired at three of the installed SPS sites. In case study 1, transient analysis reveals real-time fluctuations in PV power production previously unseen by 15-minute averaged data. In case study 2, system performance is compared at two sites with different PV technologies.