SunPeak, a Wisconsin-based developer and installer, recently completed a large, complex solar PV project for its customer, Thelen Sand and Gravel, in Northern Illinois. The 2MW ground-mount system supplies Thelen's aggregate mine with more than 30% of its annual power. The project is one of the largest customer-sited behind-the-meter solar installations in the Midwest.

Using Solar-Log monitoring, the SunPeak Operations & Maintenance team can track the plant's energy production metrics as well as data from the installed Lufft pyranometer to ensure that the system is running free and clear of errors.

The Lufft pyranometer provides valuable data points on parameters that impact solar plant performance. Variables such as air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation can affect the amount of power produced. Measuring localized weather data can help analyze performance deviations. This will avoid unnecessary site visits and reduce Operations & Maintenance (O&M) costs, maximizing the profitability of a solar plant.

"SunPeak utilized a weather station at Thelen as an additional means of production verification and error detection. By collecting real-time irradiance, temperature, and wind data, the 30-year historical weather data that is used to predict the expected energy output can be normalized for the actual environmental conditions experienced at the site. The measured energy output of the PV system can then be compared to the predicted output to determine if the components are functioning properly," noted John Schwarzmeier, SunPeak's Operations & Maintenance Manager.

Connecting high-quality weather sensors to the Solar-Log monitoring platform increases the accuracy of error detection. The primary objective is to detect system failures and performance issues immediately to ensure minimal downtime.

SunPeak | https://www.sunpeakpower.com