The Future of Solar Energy: Smart Panels and IoT Integration

Client Profile

The company provides turnkey services from concept to commissioning and Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) for solar power projects. With rich experience in commissioning 400 MW+ solar projects in various states across India, the company has established itself as a pioneer in developing solar power projects and is a leading player in the Indian Solar Industry. Thereby recognizing the title of "First Private Solar Park Developer" in India.

Key Requirement

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of devices directly affect power generation efficiency. And since the company is a large solar EPC player managing and maintaining over 100 Solar plants and parks across India, spread across multiple states in remote locations, it becomes increasingly complex and laborious to operate & keep them for optimal energy production. Currently, the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems located at the plants are used for overall monitoring by on-site engineers. Since this is a central system, advanced analytics and insights made available for the higher management became limited. Flentas proposed to build an end-to-end IoT-based solution for improving the Operations and Maintenance of the plant.

Our Approach

Flentas assisted in creating a stack for a scalable and agile solution through AWS IOT services. Firstly, we started with Edge gateway technology which enables the data collection from any device or system in real-time, providing rich analytics and reporting. This data is cached on the hub for connectivity issues, allowing stream processing without interruption. By using edge gateway technology, the company can leverage its existing infrastructure to collect and analyze data from a variety of sources quickly and efficiently. With this technology, businesses can gain valuable insights into their operations that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.
MQTT and other IoT protocols are widely used for asset health tracking. Since they are lightweight and scalable to millions of sensors, it is easy to track real-time power generation metrics. With the help of these protocols, companies can monitor their assets in real-time, detect potential problems before they occur, and ensure that their systems are running optimally. Components of our IoT based Solution

AWS IoT stack for a scalable and agile solution

Edge Gateway for data collection

Rich analytic and reporting

Data Cache on the hub for connectivity issues

Lightweight IoT protocols (MQTT)

Asset health tracking

Scalable to millions of sensors

Real-time power generation metrics

Measuring Success

Remote monitoring of all the plants Through remote monitoring, we were able to lower costs and boost productivity. It assists in identifying potential system flaws or malfunctions and notifies operators so they may take swift action.

Maintenance and tracking We designed an observability solution to identify potential issues that could affect the performance of the solar plant, such as broken components or improper installation, with the help of routine maintenance and tracking.

Operations management It involves managing the day-to-day activities, keeping track of all necessary safety protocols, and monitoring performance metrics.

Reporting AI-powered reporting solutions that can deliver real-time performance data are used to produce accurate reporting.

Asset management We help identify potential problems before they become costly, ensuring that solar plants run as efficiently as possible.