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Copper, Fiber optics or WiFi?
Useful guidelines for designing your onsite communication network
In the old days one simply put up some PV panels, wired them to an inverter, connected the inverter to some batteries or the grid and voilá, you’re in business! Times have changed though; and the pressure to squeeze the last ounce of efficiency from a system and the need to operate at maximum availability has made the gathering of information from a solar PV installation more important than ever before. Information needs to be transmitted from the source (module, panel, inverter, transformer, etc.) to a central repository and from this repository, translated into a format understood by human operators and financial officers. Modern-day solar installations are abuzz with communication systems that carry information back and forth and the need for a proper network on which this information can transmitted is a crucial part of modern PV plant practice. The type of network that supports onsite communication for a solar PV plant is determined by the size and complexity of the installation.
Network Design is ideally conducted very early in the design phase of the installation. Historically there has been little demand for complex networks on solar PV plant as the installations were rather small and not very complex. However, modern plants seek to tap the last ounce of efficiency from the modules and inverters, and hence require not only increasing amounts of automation, but also monitoring and data analysis. These technologies are supported by rugged networks that form the backbone for onsite communication. In order to ensure that solar PV installations operate at maximum output and with minimal downtime, it is essential that the network is designed well and that the hardware components that constitute the network are selected with optimum reliability and compatibility with one another. >>
