Development of IoT based smart photovoltaic energy monitoring system

• Main Authors: Razali, Muhammad Nizamuddin, Yi, Sim Sy, Zambri, Nor Aira, Mustafa, Farahiyah, Siang, Alvin John Lim Meng, Zin, Nooradzianie Muhammad, Bohari, Azuwien Aida
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Data collection; Electric potential; Energy; Energy harvesting; Energy sources; Internet of Things; Monitoring; Monitoring systems; Photovoltaic cells; Shading; Smartphones; Sustainable development; Voltage
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0200747

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are extensive as an alternative energy resource in the public and private sectors. Despite having an electric supply from the conventional fossil fuel generator, PV systems provide more economical solutions. However, the implementation of PV systems without maintenances contributes to energy wastage and increases the cost compared to on-grid supply. Improper maintenances with an aged system will minimize the performance, decrease the lifetime and possibility of defect of the system. An intelligent monitoring system is the best solution to keep track of a photovoltaic system’s performance to ensure the system to maintain at optimum condition. The aim of this project is to study the factors that affect the photovoltaic’s energy harvesting and develop a PV performance monitoring system with the implementation of Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed PV energy performance monitoring system allowed users to wirelessly monitor the PV performance parameter by using Blynk application through the smartphone. A prototype was design and built with ESP32 development board, DHT22, Current sensor and Voltage sensor which then applied to the actual PV system consisting of a 20W PV panel,12V battery, charge controller and LED lamp as the load. The collected data was plotted in graphs for a better analysis. The data collected shows that the efficiency of the PV panel can be affected by shading and temperature. In day 3, the strong emitted sun from morning gave the average voltage and current of 13.1V and 0.33A compared to day 1, which was cloudy all day, giving the average voltage and current of 12.8V and 0.17A, respectively. The efficiency of PV panel depends on the value of voltage and current since both values was affected by the temperature and shading from cloud. The proposed PV monitoring system is developed based on the implementation of IoT technology, where it can contribute to sustainable development for better energy saving compared to conventional PV systems that installed in the market