PV System -- Real-time Performance 

This page provides near real-time power output graphs for our Enphase PV system.

The reporting goes all the way down to the individual PV panel.

Be careful -- its addictive.

 

Most Enphase systems are bought with an Envoy or EMU unit that communicates with and monitors the status and performance of each of the micro inverters in the system.  The EMU also sends this performance data up to the Enphase server.  Enphase builds a web page for each system owner.  The web page reports the performance of the system.  It also emails you if there are problems with the system.  The page provides quite detailed performance data (right down to the individual PV panel) and saves all the data so that historical performance can be reviewed.

 

 

Near Real-time System Reporting:

 

The web page page that Enphase built for our system is shown above.  It will give pretty close to real-time data on the system.  Occasionally, I may turn the router off, and the online graphs will not catch up until its back on.

A couple other examples of real-time performance pages you may want to check out:

Guy's system...                   (a full description of Guy's Enphase system here...)

The Wholesale Solar system...  (interesting because every PV panel on this system is a different size and brand!)

The level of detail provided is fascinating.  For example, we have minor shading on the east most PV panel in the early morning.  By slowly playing the panel by panel output page through the first part of the morning, you can pick up the lower power being put out by the east most panel. 

 

The system also tracks messages sent out by the micro-inverters and will email the system owner if there is a problem with the system.  This allows you to catch problems right away and fix them without losing a lot of power production.

 

When I first heard about this real-time online reporting, I thought is was mostly marketing fluff, but I have to say that after having had a chance to look at the reports, its nice to see the performance, and this capability might well help you quickly identify any problems -- I plan to keep subscribing to it.

 

 

Gary December 10, 2009; June 29, 2010