Design of a Monitoring and Test system for PV based Renewable Energy Systems

To optimize the energy production and usage, of a Renewable Energy System (RES), it is essential that an effective monitoring and control strategy is employed. In order to develop new control algorithms the designer needs to evaluate the RES parameters and at the same time simulate real test condition load profiles.
The developed system is composed of a monitoring tool that measures and displays, in real-time, the parameters of Photo-Voltaic (PV) solar panels, and of an electronic load that can simulate load profiles such as the averaged domestic or stepped power consumption.
The monitoring system is implemented using a μcontroller and the electronic load is composed of a MOSFET, driven using a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) output of a PIC μcontroller. Furthermore, the power consumption profiles are stored in the internal memory of the PIC μcontroller.
The obtained results demonstrate the ability of the system to monitor the current, voltage and temperature of PV panels as well as the ability to simulate different electronic load profiles.