Leading solar inverter manufacturer Sungrow has partnered with Alibaba Group’s cloud computing unit Aliyun (or AliCloud) to combine solar power stations with cloud services around the world.
According to WantChinaTimes, Ali Cloud will enable solar facilities constructed by Sungrow to perform ” intelligent management and maintenance” around the world through the provision of big data support, storage and internet access.
Called iSolar Cloud, the service will solve remote management and maintenance challenges of solar power stations and could boost financial return on these systems by 3%-7%. The connectivity will also improve PV electricity production forecasting, which facilitates better inter-regional power generation and allocation.
“The service will usher solar power generation into the realm of collective management,” said Zhao Wei, vice president of Sungrow.
Founded in 1997 by Dr. Renxian Cao, Sungrow has become a leading manufacturer in the global PV inverter industry. More than 8GW of Sungrow solar inverters are installed globally. The company’s products are a popular choice in Australia for residential solar installations; offering features usually only found in more expensive brands.
Aliyun is the largest public cloud services company in China with more than 1.4 million customers. Alyun also operates the network that supports Alibaba Group’s massive Chinese e-commerce operations with data centers in Beijing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Last month the company announced it is establishing a data center in the USA’s Silicon Valley, marking the company’s first expansion overseas.
The advent of big data combined with solar management isn’t new – other companies have already made significant progress with similar remote management services. USA-headquartered SunEdison’s solution combines comprehensive measurement systems, proprietary software technology and state-of-the-art data centers to manage its customers’ systems.
SunEdison’s data collection instruments provide the information necessary to create a complete picture of system performance and local weather conditions. Sophisticated algorithms also compare actual energy generation with expected energy generation based on historical performance, the performance of other systems in SunEdison’s database, and weather conditions. Data is fed into SunEdison’s global Renewable Operations Centers (ROCs), located in India, Spain, and the United States, where it is monitored by trained technicians.
When an issue is identified, either a fix is implemented remotely, or a technician dispatched to solve the problem and restore the system to maximum efficiency.
