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Comprehensive Monitoring Strategies for Photovoltaic System Integration
This white paper examines the unique power quality and grid stability challenges introduced by photovoltaic (PV) systems, emphasizing the need for detailed monitoring of voltage, current, real/reactive power, and harmonics. It provides practical recommendations for configuring power quality (PQ) recorders, stripcharts, and waveform capture to address both immediate operational issues and long-term planning needs. The findings highlight how dynamic PV output, inverter characteristics, and local loads can impact system performance, and how targeted data collection can support effective regulation and system optimization. You’ll see where minute-level stripcharts reveal voltage wander from cloud transients, when to trend THD and interharmonics near 60 Hz to catch phase-lock or “beat” effects, and how event-plus-periodic waveform captures expose switching transients, PV connect/disconnect behavior, and waveshape changes tied to VAR control—all with vendor-neutral guidance meant for real field work, not lab demos.
Key topics include:
- Issues with PV Systems
- PV Stripchart Recommendations
- Voltage, Current, and Harmonic Monitoring
- Waveform Capture Recommendations
- Case Studies and Data Interpretation
Why utilities should care:
Effective PV monitoring enables proactive identification of power quality issues, supports optimal voltage and VAR regulation, and ensures reliable integration of distributed generation. Minute-scale data improves regulator/capacitor operation decisions, avoids “chatter,” and preserves feeder headroom when PV ramps quickly. Tracking THD alongside RMS trends clarifies whether inverters are cleaning up—or amplifying—local distortion, while interharmonic checks help diagnose poor phase lock before complaints escalate. Pairing upstream/downstream recorders around the point of common coupling strengthens ride-through compliance reviews, DER hosting-capacity estimates, and post-event investigations. In short, disciplined monitoring turns variable PV into actionable insight for planning, operations, and customer support.
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