Performance monitoring is a crucial but often overlooked part of owning a solar or solar + storage system. After installation, it’s normal to be curious about whether your SunPower® solar system is working properly and how much power it’s producing. Here’s what you need to know about monitoring your system using mySunPower.
What is solar monitoring and what are its benefits?
Solar monitoring is the process of tracking the energy production and status of a solar home system. Robust solar monitoring will observe all aspects of a solar system, monitoring solar panel production, battery storage, and electricity consumption all in one place.1
Within the mySunPower monitors adp, homeowners can quickly see if their home is currently powered by solar energy, drawing power from the utility grid or sending excess energy back to the utility. If you have SunVault™ Storage, you can view battery status and charge level, as well as make power preference decisions based on your battery storage usage. Monitoring your entire home energy system in one place gives you the ability to adjust your system preferences to maximize savings or prepare for potential outages – whatever is most important to you .
What can I learn from solar monitoring?
Beyond understanding the energy production and current status of your SunPower solar system, enhanced solar monitoring will provide greater insight into your system’s historical data and the impact of different variables on your production and your energy use.
One aspect of this monitoring is to see how solar, grid and storage usage changes over time or with seasonal differences. The mySunPower monitoring app allows owners to view consumption trends by day, month, year and over the lifetime of your system. With this information, you can estimate savings and help you plan for future energy needs, such as adding a new member to your family or buying an electric vehicle.
If your SunPower system is equipped with microinverters, you can monitor the performance of each solar panel in your solar array. Accessible panel level data allows homeowners to easily see and understand how their system’s performance is affected by weather, shading or panel corner. Accelerated reading of each solar panel’s power output shows which solar panels perform best and which may be affected by obstacles such as potential debris or shading. To access Panel Level Monitoring, please contact your SunPower installer.
Why is solar monitoring important?
Solar monitoring can give you peace of mind that your entire home energy system – from your solar storage down to individual solar panels – is working properly.
If you’re concerned there’s something wrong with your system, the mySunPower monitoring app gives you the transparency to take a closer look at the individual panel level and help identify issues. Indicators displaying a status for each solar panel in your system will help you spot when something may need further investigation, such as a solar panel having difficulty communicating with the monitoring device. This level of detail makes it easier for your solar installer to find a solution.
Proactive and holistic solar monitoring can help you identify any potential issues early on, before you notice a problem with your utility bill.
1 Additional equipment may be required. Check with your installer if your home is eligible for electricity consumption monitoring.
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