Solar Power Monitoring & Fault Detection

Problem statement

Solar panels may have faults such as shading or loose connections that reduce power generation, but these are not always detected quickly.

Abstract

This project monitors voltage, current and temperature of a solar panel using sensors connected to an ESP32. The controller calculates power and energy and uploads the data to a cloud dashboard. Simple fault detection logic raises alerts when readings are abnormal.

Components required

• Solar panel and small charge controller
• Current sensor
• Voltage divider for panel voltage
• Temperature sensor
• ESP32 or ESP8266 board
• Wi-Fi router and cloud platform
• Power and protection circuits

Block diagram

Working

The ESP32 periodically samples sensor values and computes instantaneous power and daily energy. Data is sent to the cloud where graphs of energy generation are plotted. If power drops sharply or temperature is very high, the system flags a possible fault and sends notifications.

Applications

• Monitoring rooftop solar installations
• Institutional solar plants
• Research on solar performance
• Smart energy management demos