How to connect your solar power installation to the cloud 

You’ve realized that connecting your solar power installation to the internet will strengthen its effectiveness because it will allow you to monitor and manage all parameters that affect its output remotely and in real time.  

Challenges 

Since the core competency of your business is not the Internet of Things (IoT), you need to find a solution that helps you tackle the following challenges:  

1. Time and resources. You want to have a cost-efficient and working solution in a few days.  
2. Device diversity. You need a simple and flexible solution that can handle the heterogeneity and diversity of the assets in your solar power installation because they speak different IoT communication protocols. 
3. Scaling. You want a solution that will allow you to scale without complexity and without changing the end user experience as your business grows.
4. Just one provider. You want an IoT solution that addresses the crucial parts of the IoT technology stack and provides you with a single point of ownership when you need support.  

5 Easy Steps  

1. Decide the devices. Decide which devices need to be powered by IoT (solar panels, MPPTs, batteries, inverters, etc.). If each device speaks different IoT communication protocols, it is not a problem! 
2. Choose the Gateway. Choose, with our advice, the gateway that best fits your needs. 
3. Cover all the data pipeline. Let BACE IoT cover all the data pipeline (from extracting the data of your devices, to sending, orchestrating and providing it to the monitoring dashboard).  
4. Integrate the information. Integrate the information easily into any monitoring dashboard, mobile application or database via an API or a Webhook.  
5. Receive the data. Receive continuous and real-time data on the state of each device in the system.  

Solutions 

Choose your solution depending on your use case:  

Option 1. You want to connect all components in your solar power installation using a multi-purpose multi-protocol converter gateway like BACE Plus.  

BACE Plus is the IoT solution that creates a data pipeline with all devices in a solar power installation.  

As shown in the diagram, the solution —consisting of the stand-alone gateway and the cloud application— extracts all the information you might want from each device and then provides you with it as an API (Application Programming Interface) or Webhook to any application or database you need. Since BACE Plus provides the information in a consistent and neat way, it gives simplicity and flexibility to use the critical data however is necessary (e.g., catering to different stakeholders). 

The benefits 

With our solutions, you will be able to:  

• Maximize the energy production of your system. 
• Provide better and more innovative services to your customers. 
• Monitor and control each device individually from a centralized dashboard, thus ensuring each is operating at maximum efficiency.  
• Receive alerts when something is underperforming, based on defined threshold criteria. 
• Pinpoint problem sources and resolve them before it affects the operation of the system. 
• Guide new product improvements and provide better installations by using historical data. 

Option 2. You want to turn one of the assets in your solar power installation into a connected product by integrating an embeddable gateway like BACE Core.  

BACE Core is the IoT solution that integrates into each asset or product in a solar power installation.  

As shown in the diagram, the solution —consisting of the integrable gateway and the cloud application— can turn each solar panel, MPPT, battery, inverter, etc., into a separate connected product, which will allow it to engage with other things and provide you with information about it. The information will then be provided to you via an API or Webhook to any application or database you need. Since BACE Core provides the information in a consistent and neat way, it gives simplicity and flexibility to use the critical data however is necessary (e.g., catering to different stakeholders). 

The benefits 

With our solutions, you will be able to:  

• Maximize the energy production of your system. 
• Provide better and more innovative services to your customers. 
• Increase the lifetime of your devices.  
• Decrease maintenance costs and save time by practicing predictive maintenance. 
• Guide new product improvements and provide better installations by using historical data.  

Option 3. You have an off-grid situation (there is no energy, no phone line, no internet) for which you want to have a connected solution.

We can provide BACE Plus Solar, our stand-alone IoT gateway, to act as a self-powering multi-purpose converter that can create a data pipeline in an off-grid situation. 

The solution —consisting of the stand-alone gateway and the cloud application— can be used to monitor environmental information and equipment remotely and in real time. The information will then be provided to you via an API or Webhook to any application or database you need. Since BACE Plus Solar provides the information in a consistent and neat way, it gives simplicity and flexibility to use the critical data however is necessary. 

The benefits 

With our solution, you will be able to:  

• Maximize the energy production of your system. 
• Increase the lifetime of your devices. 
• Monitor and control each device individually from a centralized dashboard, thus ensuring each is operating at maximum efficiency.  
• Receive alerts when something is underperforming, based on defined threshold criteria. 
• Pinpoint problem sources and resolve them before it affects the operation of the system. 
• Decrease maintenance costs and save time by practicing predictive maintenance. 
• Guide new product improvements and provide better installations by using historical data. 

About EVALAN 

With over 15 years of experience, EVALAN is the leading IoT solutions provider. Recognized among the 100 most innovative enterprises in the Netherlands and present in over 50 countries, we help clients to solve challenges and make data-driven decisions allowing them to improve efficiency, save costs and achieve sustainability goals.  

For more information 

• Send us an email to info@evalan.com. 
• Or book a meeting with our sales managers: