Solon has brought together locations in Tucson, Arizona, San Pietro, Italy and Berlin, Germany, for their Global Test Site (GTS) network. The three identical outdoor proving grounds will test and provide data for Solon to better understand regional affects on PV modules and related technologies for the best module and system design.
“As photovoltaic companies engage in a maturing global market, it has become clear that different regions demand different solutions,” said Lars Podlowski, CTO at Solon “Solon’s global test sites empower us to better understand the underlying characteristics of PV modules and systems, which is key to providing our customers with greater overall efficiency, and ultimately a lower levelized cost of energy. These three sites are a first of their kind in the industry, and reflect Solon’s innovative approach to intelligent solar solutions, which drive the company’s unprecedented level of performance and reliability.”
Solon will study various areas of performance on four platforms: fixed-tilt at 0 degrees, fixed-tilt at latitude, single-axis tracking, and dual-axis tracking. The GTS network will also test technology from potential partners.
A custom data acquisition system (DAS) is used for measurement of voltage and current before and after the inverter, cell temperature, ambient temperature, irradiance (direct and diffuse), wind speed and humidity. Since the data are stored on a central server, Solon can access the data from around the world for further analysis.