Photovoltaic inverter reports pv fault

What is a fault in a photovoltaic system?

Faults in any components (modules, connection lines, converters, inverters, etc.) of photovoltaic (PV) systems (stand-alone, grid-connected or hybrid PV systems) can seriously affect the efficiency, energy yield as well as the security and reliability of the entire PV plant, if not detected and corrected quickly.

Why do photovoltaic systems fail?

PhotoVoltaic (PV) systems are often subjected to operational faults which negatively affect their performance. Corresponding to different types and natures, such faults prevent the PV systems from achieving their nominal power output and attaining the required level of energy production.

What happens if a fault occurs in a solar PV system?

Reduced real time power generation and reduced life span of the solar PV system are the results if the fault in solar PV system is found undetected. Therefore, it is mandatory to identify and locate the type of fault occurring in a solar PV system.

Do solar inverters have a line-to-line fault?

Typical solar inverters are also equipped with insulation testing cir-cuits that detect for ground leakage . A line-to-line fault occurs when two points of different potential in a PV system are short cir-cuited, resulting in an overcurrent in the faulty circuit.

What are the different types of solar PV faults?

The faults occurring in the solar PV system are classified as follows: physical, environmental, and electrical faults that are further classified into different types as described in this paper. Once a fault is located and detected, an appropriate diagnosis method needs to be used to rectify it.

Do PV systems have internal faults?

Other than environmental implications, PV systems are seen to encounter inner faults for example, ranging from basic electrical faults (open-short/circuit) to Power Processing Units (PPU) faults such as Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT), and inverter malfunction [9, 10].