ESTI-LOG PV PLANT MONITORING-SYSTEM

The European Solar Test Installation developed the ESTI-sensor (Ossenb rink and Munzer, Proc. 11th EC Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conf., 1992, pp. 333-336, Ossenbrink and Helmke, German 1000 Roofs Programme Coordi nation Meeting, January 1994) a low-cost solar irradiance measuring de vice which in a short period of time has become a well-known device fo r monitoring and evaluation of PV installations and a new standard for PV power plant monitoring systems. To further lower the cost of a mon itoring system, and to increase performance, ESTI proposed a lowest-co st system, where all necessary electronics are laminated within the se nsor. For this purpose a single-chip controller was foreseen, which me asures both solar cell signals (V-oc and I-sc) and performs the algori thm to determine irradiance and temperature.