PACE-D TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Detailed Project Report on National Level Centralized Monitoring Centre

Technical Assistance Program

Detailed Project Report on

National Level Centralized Monitoring Centre

Submitted to USAID on April, 2018

April 2018
This report is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for
TABLE OF
International CONTENTS
Development (USAID). The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of Nexant and
Concept Note on National Level Centralized Monitoring Centre: PACE-D Technical Assistance Program United States
do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the U.S. government. This report was prepared under
Agency for International Development Contract AID-386-C-12-00001 i
Contract Number AID-386-C-12-00001.
TABLE OF CONTENT

List Of Figures...................................................................................................................... III

List Of Tables ....................................................................................................................... III
List Of Acronyms.................................................................................................................. IV
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Overview of Solar Development And Challanges....................................................... 2
1.3 Centralized Monitoring Center ................................................................................... 3
1.4 Structure of DPR ....................................................................................................... 4
2 Development of Solar PV Systems and Need for NCMC ............................................... 6
2.1 Existing System and Data Sharing Process ............................................................... 6
2.2 Challenges in Current Monitoring Process ................................................................. 7
2.3 Need for NCMC ......................................................................................................... 8
3 Features and Functionalities of NCMC ........................................................................... 9
3.1 Key Features of NCMC .............................................................................................. 9
3.2 Data Capturing Process- Methods, Comparison and Selection of Suitable Method . 10
3.3 Parameters to be Monitored .................................................................................... 12
3.4 Outcome of NCMC .................................................................................................. 13
3.5 Key Stakeholders: Roles and Responsibilities Under NCMC ................................... 15
3.6 Inception of Pilot Project Under NCMC .................................................................... 16
4 Features and Functionalities of Pilot ............................................................................ 18
4.1 Objectives of Pilot Project ........................................................................................ 18
4.2 Features of Pilot Project .......................................................................................... 19
4.3 Roles and Responsibilities Under Pilot Project ........................................................ 20
4.4 Scope of Work for Pilot Project ................................................................................ 21
4.5 Model Data Collection.............................................................................................. 22
5 Technical Requirements and Specifications ................................................................. 24
5.1 System Architecture for Pilot Project ........................................................................ 24
5.2 Hardware ................................................................................................................. 27
5.3 Data Logger ............................................................................................................. 28
5.4 Communication Protoclos ........................................................................................ 28
5.5 Hosting Requirements ............................................................................................. 32
5.6 User Of Pilot Project ................................................................................................ 33
6 Budgetary Cost Estimation for Ncmc Pilot Project ........................................................ 34
6.1 Hardware ................................................................................................................. 34
6.2 AMC of Hardware – Data Logger ............................................................................. 36
6.3 Software .................................................................................................................. 36
6.4 Implementation Set-Up ............................................................................................ 37
7 Roadmap and Timeline Of NCMC Pilot Project ............................................................ 42
8 Summary and Way Forward......................................................................................... 45
Annexure - I ........................................................................................................................ 46
Annexure – II ...................................................................................................................... 51

ii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Capacity installed ................................................................................................... 3
Figure 2: Present Data Capturing Process ............................................................................ 6
Figure 3: Challenges in Monitoring of Solar PV Systems ...................................................... 7
Figure 4: Key Features of National Level Centralized Monitoring center ............................... 9
Figure 5: Various Methods to Capture Data ........................................................................ 10
Figure 6: Direct Data Collection: Sub-Methods.................................................................... 11
Figure 7: Direct Data Capturing Method: Smart Meter with Advance Sensors ..................... 12
Figure 8: Data Sharing Process with Key Stakeholders in NCMC ....................................... 14
Figure 9: Envisaged Outcome of NCMC ............................................................................. 14
Figure 10: Key Stakeholders: Roles and Responsibilities and Advantages ......................... 15
Figure 11: Objectives of Pilot Project .................................................................................. 18
Figure 12: Key Features of the Pilot Project ....................................................................... 19
Figure 13: Key Roles and Advantages to Stakeholders in Pilot Project ............................... 20
Figure 14: Scope of Work for NISE and Vendor .................................................................. 21
Figure 15:Communication Schematic of NCMC Gateway with Other Systems .................... 24
Figure 16: GPRS Connection Architecture .......................................................................... 26
Figure 17: NCMC Server Application .................................................................................. 26
Figure 18: Modbus Relationship .......................................................................................... 29
Figure 19: MODBUS: RTU Schematic ................................................................................ 30
Figure 20: MODBUS: TCP/IP Schematic ............................................................................ 30
Figure 21: ZigBee Connection Schematic ........................................................................... 31
Figure 22:GPRS Connection Architecture ........................................................................... 32
Figure 23: XML and JSON Data Formats ............................................................................ 32
Figure 24:Communication Schematic: Data Logger to Other Systems ................................ 46

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Comparison of Data Capturing Methods ................................................................ 10
Table 2: Static and Dynamic Parameters Captured in NCMC ............................................. 12
Table 3: Model Data format ................................................................................................ 22
Table 4:Specifications for data Capture .............................................................................. 24
Table 5:Specification at Data Transfer ................................................................................ 25
Table 6: Hardware requirements ......................................................................................... 33
Table 7: Cost of Monitoring Equipment from 10 kW to 500 kW ........................................... 35
Table 8: Cost of Monitoring Equipment for more than 500 kW ............................................ 36
Table 9: AMC Periods ........................................................................................................ 36
Table 10: Expenditure for Monitoring Center ....................................................................... 38
Table 11: Expenditure for Infrastructure .............................................................................. 39
Table 12: Requirement for Network and Communication .................................................... 39
Table 13: Requirement for Software .................................................................................... 40
Table 14: Required of Manpower ........................................................................................ 40
Table 15: Long Term Requirements for Pilot Project ........................................................... 41
Table 16: Activities for Pilot Project ..................................................................................... 43
Table 17:Sample Inverter Modbus Register Mapping .......................................................... 47
Table 18 :Sample Modbus Pyranometer Register Mappings ............................................... 49
Table 19:Indian Standard for Distributed generation Resources ......................................... 51

iii
LIST OF ACRONYMS

Acronyms Definition
.CVS Concurrent Versions System
AC Alternating Current
API Application Program Interface
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
CMR Centre for Monitoring and Reporting
CPU Central Processing unit
DISCOMs Distribution Companies
DLMS Device Language Message Specification
DPR Detailed Project Report
ERC Electricity Regulatory Commission
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IP Internet Protocol
KYC Know Your Customer
LAN Local Area Network
MAC Media Access Control
MNRE Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
MPPT Maximum Power Point Tracking
NICSI National Informatics Centre Services Limited
O&M Operations and Maintenance
PDF Portable Document Format
PPA Power Purchase Agreement
RDBMS Relational database Management Service
RE Renewable Energy
RTU Remote Terminal Unit
SECI Solar Energy Corporation India Limited
SERCs State Electricity Regulatory Commissions
SNAs State Nodal Agencies
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
USB Universal Serial Bus
VAR Volt Ampere reactive

iv
1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND
Globally, India has one of the largest renewable energy (RE) deployment programs with an
ambitious target of 175 Gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity by 2022, of which solar will have the
largest component at 100 GW, followed by wind, biomass, and small hydro at 60 GW, 10 GW,
and 5 GW, respectively. The 100 GW target for solar has been further segregated into 60 GW
coming from ground mounted/utility scale and 40 GW coming from solar PV rooftop.
With an ambitious target of 100 GW by 2022, the Government of India’s (GoI) focus will
continue to be on the accelerated deployment of solar. The sector itself is expected to see
exponential growth over the near future. This growth will lead to exponential growth of systems
on the ground, especially in the solar rooftop segment, which will have small capacity systems
spread over the country.
MNRE has periodically specified the monitoring of grid connected projects. The relevant
sections from different guidelines are as under:

a) Guidelines for Selection of New Grid Connected Solar Power Projects (Batch — II)1 Under
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), Annexure 1B — Technical Qualification
Requirements for Eligibility of Solar Thermal Power Developer to Establish Solar Power
Plant Under JNNSM (for Projects Selected in Batch — I) states that

“d) All grid connected solar thermal power plants will install equipment for regular
monitoring of solar irradiance (including DNI), ambient air temperature, wind speed,
and other weather parameters and simultaneously for monitoring of the amount of
electric power generated from the plant. They will submit this data to the Ministry on
line and/or through a report on regular basis for the entire duration of Power Purchase
Agreement (PPA).”

b) “Off-Grid and Decentralized Solar Application Scheme: Operational Guidelines for Grid
Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme”2 Dated June 24, 2014,
Section 15 states that

“15.1 Monitoring and evaluation studies of the Scheme and its implementation will be
carried out during the period of implementation of the Scheme as is given below:

1
http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/jnnsm_gridconnected_24082011.pdf
2
http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/Scheme-Grid-Connected-Rooftop-&-small-solar-power-plants.pdf

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 i. At the primary level of monitoring, channel partners would be responsible for
monitoring parameters such as end-use verification and KYC compliance and also
compilation of statistical information.

ii. National Monitors, Consultants, Institutions, Reputed Civil Society Groups, eminent
persons, Corporate Houses (as an activity under Corporate Social Responsibility)
with relevant experience, state nodal agencies (SNAs), other govt. organizations
and MNRE officials would be involved, for ground verification/performance
evaluation on random sample basis.

iii. The electricity generation data should be available at the beneficiary level.
However, for projects above 5 kilowatt (kW), the system providers would also make
available generation data to MNRE at intervals specified.

iv. For the projects of 50 kilowatt peak (kWp) and above 100 percent, field inspection
would be required and the claim will contain the inspection report. However,
primarily responsibility of monitoring and reporting will be with the implementing
agencies.

15.2 Information and communication technology must be used for ensuring fool proof
monitoring. Since the scheme envisages information technology (IT) enabled
monitoring and verification protocols, the cost of monitoring may be included in the
total project cost which should be used by various channels partners/agencies/
organizations for compliance.

15.3 It is envisaged that certified energy auditors, scheme monitors, and others would be
empanelled for certifying the outputs of the system corresponding to the parameters
laid down in the programme.”

c) MNRE’s Standing Committee on Energy Report (2016-173) dated on July 2017, section 4.26
(iii)

“… All new mini grid systems should have capability for grid synchronization and remote
generation monitoring systems...”

1.2 OVERVIEW OF SOLAR DEVELOPMENT AND CHALLANGES

Till February 2018, India has has been able to add 19.59 GW of solar, of which 18.51 GW has
come in through the utility route and 1.08 GW has come in through the solar rooftop route4.
Figure 1 shows the actual solar capacity addition till F.Y. 2017-18, vis-à-vis the target till FY
2021-22.

3
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/national%20solar%20mission%20-%20an%20appraisal.pdf
MNRE Physical Progress (Achievements) – February 2018
4

Page 2
 120 Target Cummulative
Achieved Cummulative
100
100
83
80 Actual Installed
capacity till
February 2018 66
GW

60
49

40 33

18 19.59
20
12.29
3.74 6 6.76

-
up to FY FY 2015-16 FY 2016-17 FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22
2014-15
Year

Figure 1: Capacity installed

One of the biggest challenge going forward will be to understand the performance of these
systems and the impact this performance will have on a wide variety of stakeholders like
distribution utilities, developers and consumers, policy makers like MNRE and state
governments.
Utilities will require real time or as close to real time data on the performance of these systems
to plan for the management of the grid, investors and banks will need to understand the
performance of these systems to make better investment decisions and developers would need
this information for better management of the systems. However, availability of real time data
and information on the performance of these systems has been almost non-existent.
The information available with MNRE is mostly limited to the installed capacity of the systems.
Generation and performance details, wherever available are shared over a period of time and
have limited use to most stakeholders. Availability of real time generation and performance data
to the key stakeholders is critical for the sector’s development. This would require design,
development and operationalization of a remote monitoring system to ensure effective,
accurate, cost effective generation, collection and transmission of generation and associated
performance data and its sharing with a centralized data base followed by its analysis and
presentation in required formats.

1.3 CENTRALIZED MONITORING CENTER

The Centralized Monitoring center (CMC) is an online monitoring system, which captures data
(remotely), and processes performance data from solar projects and provides real time
information and analysis of the performance of these systems using a wide variety of analytical
tools to key stakeholders.

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As per the MNRE guidelines, it is mandatory to monitor all the grid-connected solar projects.
The State agencies and Distribution utilities lack the adequate dedicated staff and resources,
therefore the monitoring of the projects could not be exploited to the full potential.
The proposed CMC will enable the MNRE to remotely monitor all the solar projects and capture
necessary data from one location without sending anyone physically to plant locations, resulting
in reduced man-hours in monitoring, faster and more accurate data capture, and improved
forecasting and scheduling.

1.4 STRUCTURE OF DPR

This report has been organized under following eight chapters.
i. Chapter 1: Introduction – The introduction chapter has covered the overview of
JNNSM and, targets and achievements under it. Overview of upcoming challenges in
monitoring the performance of grid-connected projects, and how Centralized Monitoring
Center will assist in performance monitoring of grid connected solar projects.
ii. Chapter 2: Need for NCMC – Existing data sharing process and challenges – The
second chapter covers the description of current data capturing process followed
throughout the country by key stakeholders and challenges in the current monitoring and
data capturing process. The need for a National Level Centralized Monitoring Center, its
applicability will assist key stakeholders in monitoring and performance assessment.
Why a pilot project is necessary prior to launching a National Level Centralized
Monitoring Center.
iii. Chapter 3: Features and Functionalities of NCMC– The chapter will cover key
features and functionalities of NCMC, available methods of data capturing from grid-
connected projects and determination of most suitable method for Indian Scenario.
Overview of parameters to be captured under NCMC, outcome of NCMC and their
benefits to key stakeholders. Roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders under
NCMC and inception of pilot project.
iv. Chapter 4: Pilot project under NCMC– This chapter covers the objective of the pilot
project to be done under NISE, its features, roles and responsibilities of key stakeholder,
software developer, vendor, consumer and PACE-D TA Program, their scope of work
and model data collected by NCMC.
v. Chapter 5: Technical Requirements and Specifications – The chapter will cover the
hardware and software requirements for the Pilot project. The specification of each
equipment required, requirements for hosting of the software of the Pilot project. Further,
the chapter will also discuss the Users of pilot projects.
vi. Chapter 6: Budgetary Cost Estimation for CMC – For the purpose of budgetary cost
estimation, the project cost has been divided into various components such as
hardware, software, communication, establishment, infrastructure, and recurring
operating costs. The basis for estimation of various cost components have been
elaborated under this chapter.

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vii. Chapter 8: Roadmap and Timeline for NCMC Pilot Project– In this chapter the way
forward for pilot project implementation has been discussed. This chapter provides the
overview of the different activities and phases involved in the pilot project
implementation and outlines estimated timeframe against various milestones for project
implementation.
viii. Chapter 9: Summary and Way Forward – This chapter summarizes the roadmap and
outlines the way forward for use of the NCMC system to cover other applications.
Further, it highlights the replicability and scalability potential of the NCMC system
concept in other states across India.

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2 NEED FOR NCMC – EXISTING DATA SHARING PROCESS AND CHALLENGES

2.1 EXISTING SYSTEM AND DATA SHARING PROCESS

Presently, the process of capturing and sharing data is an inter-dependent process at each level.
Also, there is lack of fixed sources of data for stakeholders. The present data capturing process
by different stakeholders is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Present Data Capturing Process

The developer or in some cases the DISCOM captures the data from inverter and solar meter,
respectively. The developer may share data with consumer/DISCOM/MNRE/SNA on request.
Similarly, DISCOMs may share the solar meter data with SNA/SLDC on request. Hence, sharing
of data by DISCOM/developer is not regular and it depends entirely on the understanding between
different stakeholders. The data that is shared is also not very useful, often being in hard copy
format and covering a few generic parameters – the analysis of which is totally inadequate to
design and deploy specific steps for the improvement of yields or the design of any standards/
specifications.
The Program conducted a survey in four states with SNAs, DISCOMs and Developers; based on
the survey, the Program identified the following loopholes in the current data capturing system:
 SNAs do not capture the solar generation data of solar rooftop projects. The data for utility
scale projects is received from Regional Load Dispatch Center (RLDC) / SLDC, while data
for solar rooftop projects is received from DISCOM/developer in monthly formats only on
request.
 Consumers, one of the key stakeholders in the solar market, lacks the awareness and the
knowledge to evaluate the performance of their solar projects. A few developers provide
Login ID to consumer to check plant’s daily generation but this only informs the consumer.

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  DISCOMs receive solar generation data for utility scale solar projects only, solar generation
from rooftop projects is not recorded anywhere. They manually access data from net meters
for billing purpose and sometimes reaffirm these with solar meters.

2.2 CHALLENGES IN CURRENT MONITORING PROCESS

Presently, all ground mounted project developers have remote monitoring as part of their
project, while most of the large rooftop developers are also adopting such systems. However,
the data captured by the developers do not reach the DISCOMs and MNRE. The data available
to DISCOMs is only through net/gross meter lacking actual solar generation data and SLDCs.
The biggest challenge is that since the monitoring is not mandatory in state regulations, the data
is made available by developers to consumers only on request basis on payment of additional
charges. This makes monitoring of small rooftop systems a costly affair. Standardization of data
acquisition hardware and process is also essential to enable monitoring at state and national
level. The challenges in various sectors of the current monitoring process are shown in figure
03.

Figure 3: Challenges in Monitoring of Solar PV Systems

Once NCMC is installed, consumers will be aware about the performance of the solar plant
installed. In case of fault, they will be able to track down the reason and take necessary action.
Once the data format is standardized, evaluating and understanding the data will become much
easier and affordable. Reliability issues will be solved once the specifications of sensors to be
used in monitoring system is standardized. NCMC servers will be able to save large volume of
data and can be transferred to cloud storage. Cloud storage is a easily available and highly
reliabledata storage service, with virtually no limitations on the number or size of files stored.
The consumer only need to pay for the storage space used. Data transferred to NCMC server
can be encrypted; hence security can be maintained.

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2.3 NEED FOR NCMC
As discussed in the previous section, the current data capturing method is weak, and the rapid
capacity addition of solar PV systems will only make it weaker. An effective monitoring method
can impact the health of solar systems and the solar sector in a number of positive ways.
a) The availability of information at individual plant level is critical for the system owners,
primarily for O&M purposes with a focus on optimizing the generation output. The
availability of information on various performance parameters of operational solar systems
like generation profile, impact of environmental conditions on the generation, impact of grid
availability on system operation, etc. over a period of time can let developers and system
owners identify specific challenges with systems, tweak their design and improve O&M
practices.
b) The system specifications and overall performance under different environmental conditions
and over a period of time can help developers fine-tune and customize O&M protocols and
bring in specific practices suited for different geographical locations etc. is critical.
c) The availability of performance data allows this information to be collated at a centralized
level and then analyzed. This data can be used by policy makers like MNRE and State
Nodal Agencies to understand the performance of systems and design appropriate policy’s,
incentive mechanisms, etc.
d) As the scale of solar rooftop implementation increases, access to online performance data
from these systems would become critical for state distribution utilities to manage their
network. In case this data is not available, management of the system will become quite
challenging for the utilities.
e) The NCMC would benefit Research and Development (R&D) agencies like NISE in the long
run. They would be in a better position to identifying best fit models, technologies and
power generation performance throughout country, challenges faced by the key
stakeholders and how to address them and its solutions.
f) Finally, performance data from systems across the country will also help financial
institutions finance solar rooftop projects as real time generation from a wide variety of
system will help these institutions understand the generation and risk profile of these
projects.

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3 FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES OF NCMC

3.1 KEY FEATURES OF NCMC

NCMC shall have the facility of easy access to critical parameters and status of individual solar
systems. The data must be available on real-time basis and must be user friendly. Further, it
must be compatible to integrate the NCMC database with third party management information
system (MIS)/database. The key features of NCMC are shown in Figure 4.

Access Data
User Friendly
update and Compatibility Analytics and Scalibility
Format
Capture data Dashboard

Figure 4: Key Features of National Level Centralized Monitoring center

1) Access, Update, and Capture Data: Online access and capture of key parameters of
each of the individual Solar PV System is vital for real-time monitoring. These parameters
shall serve the purpose of not only monitoring real time power generation but also
compare the performance ratio (PR) of different plants, help in the improvement of the
system, provide indication about the RPO target met by the state, subsidy disbursed by
the state, and forecasting and scheduling. This data will help DISCOM/NISE to understand
the reduction in day peak load.
2) Compatibility: This essentially means that the data captured by data loggers from various
sources, i.e., invertors, smart meters, weather sensors, etc. and various formats should be
amenable to be converted into compatible formats, so that NCMC can easily analyze the
data. The hardware installed at the system and related software should have necessary
flexibility to capture data from various inverters and equipment of different make and
provide output in a comparable format.
3) User Friendly Formats: There must be a provision for user to download the current data
or past data in user friendly format like Excel, Comma-separated Values (.CSV), Portable
Document Format (PDF), etc.
4) Data Analytics and Dashboard: The huge inflow of real-time access and capturing of
compatible data in user friendly formats will be readily filtered, sliced, and diced through
various analytical tools and applications in pre-defined reports, visuals, graphs, charts, etc.
Further, the availability of raw data in user friendly formats will ensure further analysis by
the stakeholders for their own use. Further, each stakeholder can be provided a unique
Login ID with an access to different levels of data and associated reports.
5) Scalability: Once the Pilot Project is successfully implemented for approx. 30 different
locations of Northern India, then it may be expanded for pan India to cover all solar
projects.

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Note: The NCMC solution provider will build an acquisition hardware to communicate with
different inverters and solar energy meters, vendors, products, and software applications in
DISCOMs, SNAs, and Channel Partners having self-monitoring systems.

3.2 DATA CAPTURING PROCESS- METHODS, COMPARISON AND SELECTION OF SUITABLE

METHOD
Data capturing for the NCMC can be done in multiple ways depending upon the cost of
implementation, complexity, security, and authenticity of the data captured. There are primarily
three types of data capturing process, as shown in figure 5 below:

Data Capturing
Process

Manual Data File Transfer Direct Data

Entry Protocol (FTP) Collection
Server

Figure 5: Various Methods to Capture Data

All three methods could be used to capture data, but they have their own pros and cons, the key
features of all the methods are compared in the Table 1. This analysis will assist in selection of
best fit method which could be adopted for the Indian Scenario.

Table 1: Comparison of Data Capturing Methods

Parameters Manual Data Entry FTP Server Direct Data

Collection

Cost No capital High capital costs;

investment; High
Low operation costs
operation costs

Complexity Low High due to hardware Highest due to

installation hardware installation
and establishing
protocols

Implementation Low High High

Period

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 Parameters Manual Data Entry FTP Server Direct Data
Collection

Scalability Low High High

Data Authentication Low due to manual Medium High

operation

Data Security Low due to manual Low, tampering High

operation possible

Real Time Data Not available Periodically available Available

NCMC requires data capturing method which could provide data in real-time, maintain data
authenticity, high data security, and is scalable with time to add more number of Solar PV
systems. The “Direct Data Collection” method fulfils the needs of the NCMC, further this method
has four more ways to capture data, as illustrated in figure 8.

Direct Data
Collection Process

Data Logger Smart Meter Smart Meter with Smart Meter and
Method Method satellite communication advance Sensors

Figure 6: Direct Data Collection: Sub-Methods

The Program in coordination with NISE has shortlisted the “Smart Meter with Advance Sensors”
method to be used for data collection method. The benefits of this method are:
i) the smart meter will also act as data logger and communication system, removing
the need to install a data acquisition system
ii) A single weather sensor will be able to capture multiple weather parameters and
forward it to the smart meter (data logger)
The schematic of this method is shown in figure 7, the method is an advanced method which
requires smart meters along with advanced weather sensors. A single unit comprising of all the
required sensors is used instead of separate sensors. Such a unit captures irradiance, wind
speed, humidity, temperature, and other important parameters, thus reducing the cost of the
system. This method uses satellite communication to capture data at a broader level.

P a g e 11
 Figure 7: Direct Data Capturing Method: Smart Meter with Advance Sensors

3.3 PARAMETERS TO BE MONITORED

The NCMC will be fulfilling needs of multiple stakeholders varying from consumers, to system
owners, to utilities to research institutes. As the parameters should be vast and in accordance
with needs of the stakeholders, therefore, the parameters captured shall be both static and
dynamic in nature. The parameters to be captured are listed in Table 2.

Table 2: Static and Dynamic Parameters Captured in NCMC

Static Parameters Dynamic Parameters

Personal Details of Consumer Voltage-Line and Phase

a) Name
b) Aadhar Details
c) Consumer Number etc.

Address of the Consumer Current-Line and Phase

Details of Subsidy Availed Performance Ratio

Coordinates of the location Reactive Power and Maximum Power Point

Contracted Load of Consumer Active Power

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 Static Parameters Dynamic Parameters

Capacity of the Installed Plant AC/ DC

Make of Power Factor

a) Module
b) Inverter
c) Sensors
d) Other technical equipment

Details of Energy Yield

a) Developer
b) Financial Institutes

Technical details of the PV system Weather parameters:

a) Type of module a) Irradiation,
b) Tilt of module b) Wind Speed,
c) Capacity of Inverters c) Humidity,
d) Accuracy details of Sensors d) Cabinet Temperature,
e) Etc. e) Ambient Temperature,
f) Module Temperature

The proposed data capturing method could only capture the dynamic data i.e. data from
equipment and devices installed at the plant location (connected with the data logger). The
static parameters will be added by the Consumer/ DISCOM into the application, it will be a
onetime exercise to insert these parameters. The static parameters will be more useful for R&D
purposes and to monitor the performance of the overall solar program throughout the state or
country.

3.4 OUTCOME OF NCMC

The most important outcome of NCMC is to improve the current system of data capturing for
key stakeholders and sharing relevant data with them. The data sharing process after
implementation of NCMC is shown in figure 8. NCMC will provide independent access of

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information to stakeholders and reduce dependency on developers / manufactures and
DISCOMs.

Figure 8: Data Sharing Process with Key Stakeholders in NCMC

Once all the stakeholders are connected with the NCMC, they will get access to all the static
and dynamic parameters captured by it. These parameters will be analysed by the NCMC
application providing customized reports to the stakeholders assisting them in framing policies
and regulations to boost large-scale adoption of solar project, enhance the performance of solar
project to maximize the output, and assist DISCOMs in forecasting and grid scheduling. This
feature provides the NCMC an “Outcome” based approach.

Figure 9: Envisaged Outcome of NCMC

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Figure 9 shows the transition of information captured by NCMC into germane reports such as
real time generation, daily/ monthly/seasonal/yearly variation, irradiance levels, under-
performing sites, geographical location, capacity installation, region/state level performance
ratio, CUF levels, and soiling report etc. These reports will assist stakeholders into various
aspects such as performance monitoring, improvising policies and guidelines, forecasting, grid
scheduling and improving infrastructure.

3.5 KEY STAKEHOLDERS: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER NCMC

The Program has identified four key stakeholders for NCMC based on the impact the performance
of the system has on the whole value chain. The advantages, roles and responsibilities of key
stakeholders are shown in figure 10.

Figure 10: Key Stakeholders: Roles and Responsibilities and Advantages

a. Hosting Agency: The hosting agency will act as the Administrator for NCMC, it will
provide server space, IT team and fulfill other necessities to host NCMC. Apart from
these, the key role would to bring on board other key stakeholders, i.e. project
owners, SNAs, and DISCOMs, developing the framework for the NCMC and running
the initial pilots. A hosting agency should have adequate infrastructure, man-power
and authority to guide SNAs and other stakeholders to act in favor of NCMC.
Presently, National Institute of Solar Energy, NISE has agreed to take up the role of
hosting agency..

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 b. State Nodal Agencies (SNAs): Presently, the SNAs do not capture the solar
generation data of solar rooftop projects. The data of utility scale projects is received
from State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) in monthly formats only on requests. Once
NCMC is implemented, SNAs will have a direct access to real-time data of utility
scale as well as rooftop projects.
c. DISCOMs: DISCOMs will be one of the most important stakeholder for the NCMC,
as the DISCOMs through ‘interconnection framework/procedure’ will ensure
installation of data logger on the solar systems and ensure regular and uninterrupted
flow of data to the centralized server. Presently, DISCOMs receive solar generation
data for utility scale solar projects and grid connected rooftop projects for billing
purposes only. However, with an increase in the penetration of solar rooftop systems
in the distribution grid will necessitate DISCOMs to monitor solar systems
performance, predict the distributed generation, monitor the changing load profile/s,
plan for grid augmentation, and manage issues pertaining to grid stability on account
of intermittency due to solar generation. Further, NCMC will also facilitate data
availability to claim RPO fulfilment to the regulator.
d. System Owners/ Consumers: A Solar PV System owner/consumer is also one of
the key stakeholder in NCMC, though its importance is undermined due to lack of
awareness to understand the performance of solar project. By implementation of
NCMC, consumers will be able to monitor real-time generation, assess the
performance of the project vis-a-vis area/state/national average and ensure for
timely and robust O&M activities from service providers. A cohesive and coordinated
effort from all the stakeholders will be required for successful implementation of
NCMC.

PACE-D TA Program’s role is to act as catalyst between Hosting Agency and other
stakeholders. The Program will assist Hosting Agency in the following activities:
a) Identification of Key Stakeholders: The Program will assist the hosting agency, i.e.
NISE in identification of key stakeholders for NCMC as well as the Pilot project.
b) Data Capturing Method: The Program will identify the best-fit method for
implementation of NCMC, which will be adopted by the hosting agency in future.
c) Selection of Solution Provider: The Program will assist in identification of Solution
Providers who will supply, install, commission and maintain the Data Acquisition
System (DAC) systems. The process of identification could be determined in
coordination with NISE.
d) Software Development: The Program will also provide key inputs for application
development, logic and analysis, and dashboard to the software developer for NCMC.
e) Hand Holding Support: The Program will also provide handholding support to NISE
after the implementation of NCMC.

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3.6 INCEPTION OF PILOT PROJECT UNDER NCMC
The Program approached National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) and proposed to undertake
Centralized Monitoring Centre for Grid-Connected Solar Rooftop Projects. NISE appreciated the
concept and requested to develop it as National Level Centralized Monitoring Centre (NCMC)
not only for grid connected Solar Rooftop Projects but also for Utility Scale projects throughout
the country.
The Program agreed to the suggestions made by NISE, and further requested NISE to
undertake a pilot project before rolling out NCMC at National level. NISE gave their consensus
and the Program initiated working towards the pilot project under NCMC.

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4 FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES OF PILOT
4.1 OBJECTIVES OF PILOT PROJECT
The objective of NCMC is to provide real-time data from grid-connected Solar PV Systems to
key stakeholders, whereas the pilot project is aimed to identify challenges in implementation of
NCMC. The objective of pilot project is shown in figure 11:

Figure 11: Objectives of Pilot Project

1. Real-Time Data: The NCMC aims to capture real-time data from all the grid-connected
Solar PV Systems; the pilot project will undertake various sites where it could analyse the
challenges with real-time data capturing i.e. quality of data recived, data loss, data
backup, etc.
2. Compare Compatibility b/w Hardware: At National level the grid-connected Solar PV
Systems are installed with various technologies and equipment manufactured by various
manufacturers. A single data logger model will be hardly compatible with all the
technologies and equipment installed; pilot project will provide in-depth analysis of various
technologies and equipment, and its compatibillity.
3. Application of Parameters to Various Stakeholders: There are more than hundred
parameters that could be monitored at a Solar PV System, the relevance of these
parameters will differ from stakeholder to stakeholder. The pilot project has identifed
stakeholder-wise parameters, its benefits. Outcome achieved from these parameters will
also be monitored, and parameters will be removed for added accordingly for a
stakeholder.
4. Remove Challenges due to Geogarphy: India has a vast geography and the challenges
for Solar PV Systems varies from terrain to terrain. The pilot project will identify such
challenges in data capturing from various locations.

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 5. Development of Dashboard: The NCMC will also require a monitoring center where live
dashboard could be displayed; the pilot project will assist in identifying the challenges and
improvising dashboard as per requirement.

4.2 FEATURES OF PILOT PROJECT

The pilot project will be hosted by NISE on the selected sites/plants located in the Northern
States i.e. Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. NISE will request the State Nodal Agencies
(SNAs) of these States to identify the Solar PV systems, which could be undertaken for the pilot
project. Once the sites are identified by NISE, an RFP will be floated for supply, installation,
commissioning and maintenance of hardware i.e. Data logger, communication system and
weather sensors, and a dashboard will be developed by NISE to demonstrate the data
captured. Apart from these, other key features of the Pilot Project are shown in figure 12.

Figure 12: Key Features of the Pilot Project

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4.3 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER PILOT PROJECT
The Program has identified four stakeholders for the purpose of pilot project.
a) Hosting Agency (NISE): NISE will be the hosting agency and administrator for the
whole Project. It will be the responsibility of NISE to arrange funding, monitor
implementation of the Data Acquisition System, communicating to key stakeholders, etc.
b) Software Developer: The data Acquisition system requires an application, which could
analyze the data and convert it into representable visuals and report. NISE has also
undertaken this activity and will develop the software in-house with National Informatics
Center (NIC).
c) State Nodal Agency (SNAs): The SNAs will assist NISE in identifying solar PV systems
to be undertaken for the Pilot project.
d) Solution Provider: The solution provider will be the solution provider who will supply,
install, commission and maintain the DAC at identified plant sites, which will be selected
through a competitive bidding process by NISE. The Program will provide the requisite
assistance to NISE for the bid process management.
Figure 13 below, summarises the roles/responsibilities and advantages of the Pilot Project for
the four key stakeholders.

Figure 13: Key Roles and Advantages to Stakeholders in Pilot Project

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 PACE-D TA Program’s role is to support NISE in implementation of the Pilot project. The
Program will assist NISE in the following activities:
a) Identification of Key Stakeholders: The Program will assist NISE in identification of
key stakeholders for the Pilot project.
b) Development of Detailed Project Report: The Program will develop a Detailed
Project Report (DPR) for NISE.
c) Site Selection: The Program will support NISE in assessment of sites submitted by
various SNAs to shortlist 30 (Thirty) sites for the pilot project.
d) Bid Process Management : The Program will assist NISE in development of RFP for
selection process of solution providers who will supply, install, commission and
maintain the data acquisition systems at selected sites. The Program will also assist
NISE in the entire Bid Process Management, including conducting a pre-bid meeting
and technical presentation by solution providers for a technical shortlisting of solution
providers.
e) Development of Business Requirement Document: a Business Requirement
Document (BRD) for development of software and dashboard.
f) Hand Holding Support: The program will also provide handholding support to NISE
after the implementation of pilot project on performance assessment of pilot project,
dashboard improvisation, etc.

4.4 SCOPE OF WORK FOR PILOT PROJECT

The two key stakeholders for Pilot Project are NISE acting as the host/administrator for the
project, developing the software application and dashboard for Pilot project, and the Solution
Provider providing hardware for the selected sites. The broad scope of work of NISE and
Solution Provider is shown in figure 14.

Figure 14: Scope of Work for NISE and Vendor

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NISE as a hosting agency, would be responsible for making available the identified sites for
installation of data acquisition systems, selection of Solution Provider, making available the
server space on NIC, hardware equipment for Central Monitoring Centre, etc. The Solution
Provider selected by NISE would be responsible for supply, installation, commissioning and
maintenance of data acquisition systems at the identified sites, to ensure that the data is
captured from the selected systems on real-time basis on pushed to the central server. NISE
has also undertaken the role of the application developer, wherein, NISE would undertake the
data processing and analysis, develop reportable formats, graphs, and would also develop the
front end application including the Dash Board.

4.5 MODEL DATA COLLECTION

A Solar PV system has more than 100 data points, the bulkiness of the data captured under
these data points will vary with the time interval. NCMC is based on Real-time data capturing
and its visualization on a dashboard for key stakeholders, it means that generation data from all
the sites will be transmitted in real-time to the NCMC servers. The meaning of real-time might
vary from instantaneously to gap a few minutes or in some cases a few hours. Transmission
from hundreds of kilometers, then analysis of the data and conversion into useful information
could not be done instantaneously. Therefore, the Program had to determine a time interval
which will be convenient and understandable by all the stakeholders.
DISCOMs are one of the key stakeholders for NCMC in terms of role to be played for NCMC as
well as benefits to be drawn from NCMC. The DISCOMs as well as the conventional generators
are required perform forecasting and scheduling at 15 minutes time interval. . The Program
advised the same to NISE for the pilot project, which was accepted..
The data logger to be installed at sites will capture data from all the connected devices and
share the data with NCMC at an interval of 15 minutes’ time block, sample data for one day is
shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Model Data format

Consumer Date Reporting Status DC DC DC AC AC

ID Time Voltage Current Meter Incoming Outgoing
On/off
(HH:MM) (V) (A) Reading Meter Meter
reading Reading
(kWh)
(kWh)
(kWh)

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 10:00

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 10:15

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 10:30

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 10:45

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 11:00

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Consumer Date Reporting Status DC DC DC AC AC
ID Time Voltage Current Meter Incoming Outgoing
On/off
(HH:MM) (V) (A) Reading Meter Meter
reading Reading
(kWh)
(kWh)
(kWh)

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 11:15

MTBS0001 06.07.2017 11:30

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5 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS

5.1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR PILOT PROJECT

The pilot project, technically, can be divided into three different parts:
a) Data Collection from Source (Project Owner/Consumer): The data collection process
can be completed at the site or can be done remotely. This process requires proper
configuration of the equipment in order to “talk” to each other. The communication
requirements of the installed equipment and the detailed schematic of the same are
shown in Table 4 and Figure 15, respectively
Table 4:Specifications for data Capture

Equipment Connected to Connected Via

Inverter Data acquisition system RS232/RS485

Solar Generation meter Data acquisition system RS232/RS485

Weather Sensors Data acquisition system RS232/RS485

Communication Protocols Modbus (wired)

ZigBee (wireless)

Figure 15:Communication Schematic of NCMC Gateway with Other Systems

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 As shown in figure 15, all the equipment connected to DAC are communicated over
MODBUS protocol. MODBUS is basically a wired communication protocol and it is most
widely used protocol when it comes to inter-equipment communication. To use this
protocol an RS 485 or RS 232 port should be available in the equipment to make the
necessary connection. The demerit of this protocol is that it could be used for short
distances i.e. 1 Km to 2 Km, after that a repeater should be installed to maintain the
strength of the signal.
The second most widely used protocol is ZigBee, it is used in wireless communication at
the plant location. Though this technology appears to be advanced, it has its own demerits
as being wireless the receiving end and transmitting end shall be in direct line-of-sight at
all times to avoid data loss.
Nowadays, the monitoring equipment manufactured are able to communicate in both
protocols. Hence, monitoring equipment can be easily installed at almost any site
containing either MODBUS or ZigBee protocol; it can fetch data to NCMC server.

b) Data Transfer and Storage (NCMC Server Located at NIC): The next step is to share
the collected data from DAC system to NCMC server. To transfer data, the server will
require a good Internet connection. The required hardware connections and
communication protocols are shown in Table 5, along with a schematic diagram in
Figure 16.
Table 5:Specification at Data Transfer

Equipment Connected to Connected Via

Data Acquisition GPRS (wireless connection to GSM module

System Internet)

Data Acquisition Internet router (wired connection to Ethernet

System Internet)

NCMC Server Internet Ethernet

Data Formats for Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Data Transfer
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

Data Storage Database Management System, a software computer application

that can store data in structured format. This can capture data from
XML and well as JSON formats.

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 Figure 16: GPRS Connection Architecture
c) Data Processing and Presentation: The data processing and presentation sub-division
represents the final component of the Pilot Project architecture. This section, in general,
shall process all the data gathered from multiple Solar PV System sites, static data such
as subsidy details, DISCOM details, etc. and shall generate the required information for
Dashboards and Reports that are required for various stakeholders involved in the
NCMC system. A detailed representation of data processing and representation is
shown in Figure 17

Figure 17: NCMC Server Application

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5.2 HARDWARE
The hardware to be procured by NISE will be deployed at the Solar PV System via the selected
solution provider. The hardware will include the following equipment:
a) Data Logger: A device, which will communicate and fetch data from other devices. It is
the most crucial equipment for monitoring.
b) Communication Device: A device, which provides the necessary internet connection to
the data logger for transfer of data from solar PV systems to NCMC servers. Nowadays,
communication systems and data logger is available in the market as single device,
which easier to install and operate.
c) Weather Sensors: Sensors to capture various weather parameters such as irradiance,
wind speed, humidity, temperature etc.
The necessary requirements / specifications for hardware are as under:
i. The NCMC solution providers’ data acquisition system shall be capable of connecting
with multiple inverters, weather/solar radiation sensors and temperature sensors (both
wired and wireless) located within the Solar PV Systems above 10 kWp capacity.
ii. Data acquisition system for Solar PV System monitoring shall provide time and date
stamped system data logs on inverters, weather/solar radiation related parameters for
analysis with high quality and shall be customizable. Hardware should provide working
condition status (E.g. POWER ON, FAULT, NO CONNECTION).
iii. The data acquisition system shall provide multiple input/output (I/O) options such as RS
232, RS 485, Ethernet/LAN, USB, etc.
iv. The solution provider shall provide temperature probes to record the solar panel
temperature and/or ambient temperature provided complete with readouts integrated
with his own data acquisition system.
v. The data acquisition system with storage facility provided b the solution provider shall be
of added advantage and shall be capable of storing and retrieving previous data logged
values within the hardware system.
vi. The data acquisition system shall be capable of connecting with digital energy meters
and tariff based meters (DLMS protocol) to log the actual value of alternation
current/direct current (AC/DC) voltage, current and energy generated by the Solar PV
System provided. Energy meter along with CT/PT should be of 0.5 accuracy class.
vii. Provision to download historical data shall be incorporated, if the data acquisition system
has in built storage facility.
viii. The data acquisition system shall connect through the Internet to NCMC (NIC server)
and provide log information of inverters, weather/solar radiation and energy meter details
for download and analysis of cumulative data of all the Solar PV Systems connected.

P a g e 27
5.3 DATA LOGGER
A data logger (also data recorder or data acquisition system) is an electronic device that records
data over time or in relation to location either with a built in instrument or sensor or via external
instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they are based on a digital processor (or
computer). Functional capabilities of a data logger to procured:
i. The data logger shall act as the “master” of all the devices connected to it and shall have
multiple I/O options such as RS 232, RS 485, Ethernet/LAN, USB, etc.
ii. The data logger should able to communicate with all equipment interconnected to it
(inverters, energy meters, sensors, etc.).
iii. All devices on a bus must preferably use the same protocol to communicate.
iv. The maximum permitted number of bus devices should be observed while making the
connections with the data logger.
v. Repeater shall be configured if the connected device is required for long cable runs.
vi. The bus should be cabled with a twisted and shielded pair of wires.
vii. RS485 interpretation should be clearly indicated as (A and B or + and -) as different
manufactures have their own notations.
viii. Daisy chain wiring fashion shall be followed by solution provider.

5.4 COMMUNICATION PROTOCLOS

a) Protocol Used Between Data Acquisition Hardware and Other Device
For monitoring and online presentation of operational data, communication between
various devices to data acquisition system for data capturing plays a critical role. Some
of the commonly used communication protocol to interact with multiple devices are as
follows:
i) Modbus: This protocol is a messaging structure developed by Modicon in 1979.
It is used to establish master-slave/client-server communication between
intelligent devices. It is a de facto standard, truly open, and the most widely used
network protocol in the industrial versions of Modbus protocol exists for serial
port and Ethernet and other protocols supporting the Internet protocol suite. The
communication of Master and Slave in Modbus is shown in figure 18.

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 Figure 18: Modbus Relationship
The benefits of using the Modbus protocols are as under:
 Modbus works over a long distance {till 1,200 meters (4,000 feet)}.

 Modbus supports a maximum of 32 – 256 devices, enabling

communication with 32-256 inverters on a bus.
 Modbus Register Memory Map for data retrieval is developed with
industrial applications in mind.
 Flexibility: Third party connectivity available without placing restrictions
on vendors.
Following are some of the variants of Modbus protocols:
a. Modbus RTU: This is used in serial communication and uses compact
and binary representation of the data for protocol communication. The
RTU format follows the commands/data with a cyclic redundancy check
checksum as an error check mechanism to ensure the reliability of data.
Modbus RTU is the most common implementation available for Modbus.
A Modbus RTU message must be transmitted continuously without inter-
character hesitations. Modbus messages are framed (separated) by idle
(silent) periods.

Solar inverter manufacturers widely use the Modbus - RS485 serial

communication to record data from the inverter for monitoring purposes,
as shown in figure 19. Modbus RTU is a variant of the Modbus family, a
simple, vendor-neutral communication protocol intended for supervision
and control of automation equipment. The RS 485 establishes physical
connection between digital devices which works on the principle of
Modbus RTU standards. The Modbus family protocol is being published
as a (‘de-facto’) automation standard.

P a g e 29
 Figure 19: MODBUS: RTU Schematic
b. Modbus ASCII: This is used in serial communication and uses ASCII
characters for protocol communication. The ASCII format uses a
longitudinal redundancy check checksum. Modbus ASCII messages are
framed by leading colon (":") and trailing newline (CR/LF).

c. Modbus TCP/IP or Modbus TCP: This is a Modbus variant used for

communications over TCP/IP networks, connecting over port 502. It does
not require checksum calculation as lower layers already provide
checksum protection. The MODBUS TCP/IP connection is shown in figure
20.

Figure 20: MODBUS: TCP/IP Schematic

ii) ZigBee: This is a wireless radio frequency transceivers communication protocol
is specially built for control and sensor networks. ZigBee technology builds on
IEEE standard 802.15.4 which defines the physical and MAC layers. Above this,
ZigBee defines the application and security layer specifications enabling
interoperability between products from different manufacturers. In this way
ZigBee is a superset of the 802.15.4 specification. The ZigBee connections are
shown in figure 21.

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 Figure 21: ZigBee Connection Schematic

The system is specified to operate in one of the three license free bands at 2.4
GHz, 915 MHz for North America, 2.4 GHz for India and 868 MHz for Europe. In
this way the standard is able to operate around the globe, although the exact
specifications for each of the bands are slightly different.
ZigBee slave modules, which are quite cheap, are connected to the inverters [i.e.
built in feature / externally added (optional)] help to establish a wireless network
through which a ZigBee coordinator (master) will able to communicate with
different devices and fetch the data to a data acquisition system.

b) Protocol Used Between Data Acquisition Hardware and Other Device

i) The NCMC data acquisition hardware should be able to push the collected data from
multiple device to NCMC server at regular intervals. The NCMC solution provider
shall have one of the following protocol for communication.
a. TCP/IP Ethernet (Wired): This method is explained in the previous section.

b. GPRS Modem (Wireless): This is one of the most commonly used

communication method. In this method a communication system is installed
with the Data Logger, this communication system requires a Subscriber
Identity Module (SIM) to provide a constant GPRS. The schematics of the
communication system are shown in figure 22.

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 Figure 22:GPRS Connection Architecture
ii) The NCMC data acquisition system shall use XML or JSON formats to push the data
from their hardware to NCMC. These are the most widely used formats for data
storage worldwide. A sample XML and JSON format for Web service is shown in
figure 23.

Figure 23: XML and JSON Data Formats

5.5 HOSTING REQUIREMENTS

The hosting of the pilot project will be undertaken by NISE on NIC Servers. The application and
database could be implemented into the client owned Web server and can be configured using
the Internet Information Services (IIS) or it could be deployed to cloud server.
The server has its own software and hardware requirements. Generally, these requirements vary
depending on the necessity of the server space, complexity and bulkiness of the system to be
software to be implemented. The requirements are as under:
a) Software requirements: The Web application development shall be done on an open
source platform capable of hosting in both Windows and Linux operating system.
 Microsoft Windows Server, Version 2008 or higher.
 Microsoft .Net Framework, Version 4.5 or higher.

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  Database (preferably open source)
 IIS, Version 7.0 or higher.
b) Hardware requirements: The NCMC application will be hosted in a Web server with
static IP address and specified port for processing the web service request from data
acquisition system. The hardware requirements for NCMC are in Table 6.
Table 6: Hardware requirements

Server Processor RAM Disk Space

Application and All Intel or AMD —1 GHz or 4 GB 100 GB

Web Service higher

Database Server All Intel or AMD —1 GHz or 6 GB 100 GB

higher

The configurations mentioned are Web hosting requirements for launch of NCMC. The
requirements are scalable and should be capable of upgrading to higher version at any
time as per the requirement.

5.6 USER OF PILOT PROJECT

Presently, the user of the Pilot Project shall be NISE, the SNAs/agencies providing the sites for
the pilot project and the individual project owners, if any. At this stage, the Program has not
envisaged the involvement of Discoms as a user. Once the Pilot Project is launched, thereafter,
the features of the same shall be demonstrated to the Discoms individually as well as common
forums to seek their inputs, which shall be incorporated in the Pilot Project, which, subsequently
can be up scaled to National Level Centralised Monitoring Centre including Discoms also.

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6 BUDGETARY COST ESTIMATION FOR NCMC PILOT PROJECT
The Pilot Project will broadly consist of three parts procurement, development of application and
monitoring center. The expenditure for development of the Pilot Project consist of three
individual verticals:
a) Hardware
b) Software
c) Implementation Set-up

6.1 HARDWARE
This vertical will include various equipment, devices, and sensors that will be required for
capturing and transmission of data from solar plant to NCMC servers. The list of necessary
equipment is as under:
a) Data Acquisition system: Data acquisition system is the heart of the project, the
number of DACs required will depend on the data logger capacity and number of
inverters.
b) Communication System: The communication system is a device, which will capture
the data and assist in transmission of data from DAC to the servers. Only one
communication system is required for a plant.
c) Internet Connection: To provide connectivity to the communication system, he
internet connection could be 2G/3G/4G depending upon the availability. Generally, a
SIM card or a LAN is used to provide internet connection.
d) RS-485 to Ethernet Converter: There might be sites where data loggers are
already installed, at such places it might be required that both the data loggers shall
be installed, but as there is only one RS 485 port in an inverter a connecter will be
required so that the data loggers could be connected via Ethernet connection.
e) Among weather parameters there is:
i. Pyranometer: A single pyranometer will be sufficient for a single site; though
a pyranometer will provide highly accurate data, the price will be a much of a
burden for small projects. This option could be taken for plants with capacity
of more than 25 kWp.
ii. Irradiation sensor: Irradiation sensor is also used for measuring data the
solar radiation at a location, the accuracy of the device low as compared to
the pyranometer.
iii. Anemometer: A sensor used for measuring wind speed.
iv. Thermometer: A sensor used to measure the temperature at the site.
v. Hygrometer: A sensor used to measure humidity in the air.

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  The estimated cost for each equipment and device is given in table no 7.
Table 7: Cost of Monitoring Equipment from 10 kW to 500 kW

Name of Equipment Purpose Level of Price Range (INR)

requirement

Data Capturing hardware for 10 kW to 500 kW

Data Acquisition Capture data from inverter, High 15,000 – 30,000

system1 meters and weather sensors

Communication to enable data transmission High 10,000 – 15,000

System

Internet connection To transmit data from plant High 400 – 700 / Month
to server

RS-485 to Ethernet To convert RS-485 signal Medium 5,000 – 20,000

Converter2 into Ethernet signal

Weather Sensors

Pyranometer3 Measure irradiation High 40,000- 1,00,000

Irradiation Sensor4 Substitute pyranometer High 15,000- 20,000

Anemometer Measures wind speed High 6,000-8,000

Thermometer Measures temperature High 4,000 – 5,000

Hygrometer Measures Humidity Medium 300- 2,000

Total Cost Monitoring 1,05,700 – 2,00,700

Note:
1. In some data loggers the communication system is in-built.
2. The converter could be necessary for the plants were a data logger is already
installed.
3. Pyranometer are highly accurate and a proportionally costly, there they could
be planted at sites which are important for R&D.
4. Irradiation sensor are similar to pyranometer, but are relatively cheaper and
less accurate, these could be installed at places, which are not important for
R&D.

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  Table 8 shows the cost of monitoring equipment for ground-mounted projects (for plants
of capacity higher than 500 kWp). The solution provider will install a Monitoring Panel
consisting of Data logger, communication system, surge protector and power adapter for
data logger system.
Table 8: Cost of Monitoring Equipment for more than 500 kW

S. No. Equipment Price (INR)

1 Data Monitoring Panel (Solution Provider 1) 90,000 – 1,00,000

2 Data Monitoring Panel (Solution Provider 2) 1,60,000- 2,00,000

3 Pyranometer 40,000- 1,00,000

4 Irradiation Sensor 15,000- 20,000

5 Anemometer 6,000-8,000

6 Thermometer 4,000 – 5,000

7 Hygrometer 300- 2,000

Total Cost (including weather parameters) 3,15,300 – 4,35,000

6.2 AMC OF HARDWARE – DATA LOGGER

The AMC of hardware will play a crucial role in range of quotations submitted by vendors. NISE
will need clearly mention the duration of warranty required in the RFP to enable vendors submit
their best quotes. The AMC could be classified in three parts as shown in table 9.
Table 9: AMC Periods

S. No. Time period Remark

1 1 Year For the tenure of the Pilot project

2 5 Years After completion of tenure of pilot project

3 25 Years For lifetime of Solar PV systems

6.3 SOFTWARE
The development of Pilot Project should be awarded as a turnkey basis to the system
developer. The developer would be responsible for procurement of necessary hardware,

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software and other infrastructures and services. The steps involved in the development of Pilot
Project by the developer are as under:
 Step 1: Development of system requirement document which includes system algorithm
and architecture and getting necessary approval from NISE for the go ahead of
development
 Step 2: Procurement of Software
 Step 3: Development of application through programming
 Step 5: Arrangement of necessary services and infrastructure facilities
 Step 5: Application runs for test bed and getting acceptance from NISE/ Hosting Agency
 Step 6: Deployment of complete Solution
 Step 7: Monitoring of the system for satisfactory performance
 Step 8: Documentation of user manual for the Pilot Project

For the case of Pilot project, NISE is developing the software in-house and will have to do the
necessary procurements.

6.4 IMPLEMENTATION SET-UP

This section will include cost of infrastructure required to develop the monitoring center where
the real-time feed will be visible on a dashboard, as shown in Table 10.
a) The details of the hardware are as under:
i. One 75 inch LED Screen: Make of LED screen (HD) should be either
Samsung/LG/Sony or any similar high end version. This will be installed in the
NCMC monitoring centre. A desktop would be connected with LED screen, which
delivers the data through the user interface.
ii. Two 40 inch LED Screen: Make of LED screen should be either
Samsung/LG/Sony or any similar high end version. One will be installed in the
NCMC room of MPUVNL and second will be installed in the cabin of NCMC in
charge.
iii. Three Desktops: The above mentioned screen should be connected to a
desktop. The desktop brings the user interface to the screen through Internet.
The minimum configuration of the desktop should be i5 processer 1 TB HDD, 8
GB RAM, with LAN port, CD Drive, Mouse, Keyboard etc.
iv. One Operator Desktop: This desktop would be located in the NCMC. This
desktop would be used by the operator who monitors the NCMC system. The
minimum configuration of the desktop should be i5 processer 1 TB HDD, 8 GB
RAM, with LAN port, CD Drive, Mouse , Keyboard etc.
v. Printer High End: This printer would be located in the NCMC. The minimum
requirements of the printer would have the black and white print, color scan,

P a g e 37
 copy, fax functions. The minimum print speed would be 40 pages per minute.
Automatic document feeder and Ethernet port should be there.
vi. Printer Low End: This printer would be connected to the system located in CMD
and NCMC in charge and it will be connected to the NCMC network. The
minimum requirements of the printer is Color print and scan, copy, fax with
printing speed of 20 pages per minute
vii. Power Backup facility: As handy UPS system which will be providing power
backup facility to the NCMC for a minimum period of 5 hours. The batteries of the
UPS system would be lithium ion battery and should be maintenance free.
Table 10: Expenditure for Monitoring Center

Name of Description Quantity Price per Cost in

Hardware Required Piece Rs.

50” LED Screens To display 4 70,000 2,80,000

Desktop Core i7, 1 TB HD, 8 GB 4 40,000 1,60,000

RAM, with LAN port, CD
Drive, Mouse, Keyboard

Laptop Core i7, 1 TB HD ,8 GB 2 60,000 1,20,000

RAM, with LAN port, CD
Drive, Mouse , Keyboard

Printer High End Laser 4 in one: Print, 1 80,000 1,60,000

Copy, Scan and FAX,
50Sheet Automated
Document Feeder, Multi
Tray, built-in 10/100 Base-
T Ethernet port with USB
enabled, Minimum 40
ppm (Black and White)

Printer Low End desktop printer, 20 ppm, 2 10,000 20,000

Colour, USB Enabled

Electric Cables, As required for As per

Spike buster Connectivity requirement

UPS Minimum 6 hours back up As per

capacity requirement

Total 7,40 ,000/-

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b) Infrastructure: The basic infrastructure needed for the Pilot Project includes the
furnishers, fixtures, Air conditioning facility. Table 11 shows the estimated cost required
for the infrastructure of Pilot Project.
Table 11: Expenditure for Infrastructure

Cost Component Description No. of nits Cost Cost in Remarks

required Per Rs.
Unit in
Rs.

Furnishers and Chairs, tables and As required 1, 80, 000 Estimated

Fixtures indoor accessories, etc.

Air Conditioning 2 ton Split AC with five 2 40,000 80, 000 Estimated
Facility star ratings

Other Racks for keeping User 48, 000 Estimated

Miscellaneous manuals, etc.
Charges

Total Estimate 3,08,000

c) Network and Communication: The integration of various systems and applications

happens through the network and communication. The components needed is the
Modem, LAN cables, telephone and other accessories. Table 12 shows the details of
estimated cost on network and communication components.
Table 12: Requirement for Network and Communication

Cost Description No. of Units required Remarks

Component

Modems, LAN CISCO or similar router As required Estimated

Cables and other with modem -Wi-Fi
network Enabled with 300 mbps
accessories connectivity

Telephone / IP From Either Tata/Airtel or 2 Estimated

Phone similar

d) Software: The cost involved in the software components included the cost of license
required for the software to get used in the programming. Using the software, the pilot
project developer would develop the programming needed for the NCMC system. Table
13 shows the estimated cost for the software

P a g e 39
 Table 13: Requirement for Software

Cost Description No. of Remarks

Component units
required

DBMS Enterprise Edition 1 From data Base

License Subscription- Sql/Oracle/ or of vendors
similar

Operating Latest Windows professional 6 From Software

System Edition required for the vendors
functioning of desktops and
laptops

MS Office Latest Edition required for the 6 From Software

desktops and laptops Vendors

e) Implementation Charges: Experts from different fields are required for the
implementation of the CMC system. The system need a domain consultant who should
know about the renewable energy, system architect for system design, programmer for
database and user interface, network expert for providing the necessary integration
services, a project manager and team leader to manage the project. Based on this the
cost has been estimated for implementation which is as shown in Table 14.
Table 14: Required of Manpower

Cost Component Description No. of Man-

days Required

Project Manger With Minimum 15 years’ experience, in which at least 10

for five projects he should have Co-ordinated, plan and
control projects through the Project Life cycle from
Requirements through handover to support

Team Leader With Minimum 10 years’ experience, in which at least 12

for three projects he should have Co-ordinated, plan
and control projects through the Project Life cycle from
Requirements through handover to support

Domain As a part of technical resource pool, with minimum 5 to 10

Consultant 6 years’ experience in power/ renewable energy sector

System As a part of technical resource pool, with minimum 5 to 15

Architecture 6 years’ experience in IT system architecture

P a g e 40
Cost Component Description No. of Man-
days Required

Network Expert As a part of technical resource pool, with minimum 5 to 25

6 years’ experience in design, implementation and
administration of network

Database As a part of technical resource pool, with minimum 3 to 45

Programmer 5 years’ experience in handling different database
implementation and integration

Web Developer As a part of technical resource pool, with minimum 2 to 45

and System 4 years’ experience in design of web based online user
Design interface

f) There are certain services, which are needed throughout the lifecycle of the project. The
cost incurred for the services during operating phase mainly comprise the recurring
costs for server, applications, license fees (if any), communication & bandwidth costs,
Annual Maintenance Contract charges for IT system operator etc. Based on this the
estimated recurring cost to operate and maintain the Pilot Project is shown in Table 15.
Hence, the role of procurement of hardware, software, arrangement for communication
and networking would be its responsibility.
Table 15: Long Term Requirements for Pilot Project

Cost Component Description No. of Units

required

Virtual Server (Cloud Virtual Server (Dual Core 2 GHz, 8GB RAM, 1
Based) with dedicated IP 1 TB HD with SATA with Backup Agent)

Bandwidth Charges (4 Mbps Dedicated Line) 4 MBPS

Domain and Hosting 1 domain name and hosting charges

Charges

Annual Maintenance For Remote support of the system.

Charges from Pilot
Project Developer

OEM Antivirus First year Recurring Charges 6

P a g e 41
7 ROADMAP AND TIMELINE OF NCMC PILOT PROJECT
The course of action in the development of Pilot Project can be broadly classified in to four
stages which are:
Conceptualization Stage: This is the first stage, where the concept of NCMC has evolved. The
objective of this stage is to bring a clear picture about the requirement of NCMC, its
functionalities, and the budgetary cost estimation for the development of NCMC system. There
are two major activities involved in this stage:
1. Identify a Hosting Agency for NCMC to initiate the process. The Hosting Agency will also
arrange funds for the pilot project and Software development.
2. Preparation of Detailed project report for the proposed CMC system. The DPR includes
system requirements and budgetary cost estimation. (PACE-D TA team)
Pre Development Stage: In this stage, the mission is to find a suitable solution provider for
NCMC. The activities included in this stage are as under:
a) Preparation of and Request for Proposal
b) Pre Bid meeting with the bidders
c) Evaluation of proposal submitted by the bidders
d) Selection of solution provider and signing a contract with them
Development Stage: In this stage, the NCMC will be developed and deployed. The activities
involved in this stage is as follows:
a) Supply, install and commissioning of the monitoring equipment at the select sites by
solution provider
b) Preparation of system requirement specification by NCMC NIC developers and approval
from Hosting Agency
c) Development of NCMC application
d) User acceptance testing
e) Deployment of final NCMC system
Post Development Stage: In this stage, the NCMC system will be in the functioning stage. The
activities involved in this stage is as follows
a) NCMC system developer would prepare the user manual for CMC system
b) Training to key stakeholders on the functioning of NCMC system
c) Finally, NISE will takes the control on NCMC operation.
The roadmap of activities under the pilot project for system development is shown in the Table
16.

P a g e 42
 Table 16: Activities for Pilot Project

Phase Activity Responsibility

as proposed by
Program

Phase I – Defining Functionalities of NCMC NISE / Program

Preliminary
Assessment Project/Site Identification

Seek commitments from Project Owners

Gathering technical specification from the shortlisted sites

Technical assessment of Sites and shortlisting

Finalization of Parameters to be captured

Preparation of DPR

Phase II – Preparation of RfP NISE / Program

Bidding
Process Support in Bid Process Management

Signing of Contract

Fund allotment

Phase III – Supply of Hardware Solution Provider

Hardware
Installation of monitoring equipment at identified sites

Interfacing of equipment at site and data capturing

Server to Store data NIC

Phase IV – Modalities of logic implementation, dashboard and reports to Solution

Software be generated Provider/ NISE
Implementation
Development of Front-end application and Dashboard

Security audit of Complete application

Arrangement of Server and Deployment of application at NIC

server

Deployment of application

P a g e 43
Phase Activity Responsibility
as proposed by
Program

Phase V- Selection of report formats Solution

Provider/ NISE
Hand Holding
Development of URS and SRS document

Development of Help Manual for key stakeholders

Data analysis and evaluation

Handholding support

Training of key stakeholders

Operations and Maintenance of monitoring equipment at select sites

AMC of the monitoring equipment

Modalities of logic implementation, dashboard and reports to be

generated

P a g e 44
8 SUMMARY AND WAY FORWARD
In view of discussions under earlier chapters, NCMC system would be an effective solution to
monitor the performance of Solar PV systems by capturing data in real time. The success of the
NCMC would depend on:
i. Availability of cost effective technology for data capturing
ii. Inclusion of clause in the Interconnection procedure by the DISCOMs to mandate
installation of data loggers
iii. Standardizing technical specifications to be adopted by all the developers unanimously
iv. Engagement of DISCOMs to including data loggers in the check list

Hence, NISE or Hosting Agency need to seek firm commitment from developers, SNAs and
DISCOMs in their engagement and support.

P a g e 45
ANNEXURE - I
Working Methodology with communication protocols:
The NCMC Data Acquisition system will act as the Master in the Modbus Client Server
architecture and will host the Modbus server program modules within its system and sends
request query to one of the slaves as illustrated in figure 15. On the other hand, the other
hardware systems i.e. Energy meters, Solar Meters, Pyranometers, sensors, etc. will act as
slaves will have their own individual Modbus client program modules installed in its system to
act upon the request send from the Master.

The query request sent from the master will carry information regarding the slave ID,
communication details and register address details from where the information details. Each
slave devices i.e meters, sensors, inverters, etc, needs to be configured for slave ID to bring all
the devices in the same network.

Figure 24:Communication Schematic: Data Logger to Other Systems

Once the slave devices are set and are connect with the master device via RS 485, the Master
will send quest to each slave device to act upon it. The slave then responds with the
instantaneous values from its processor register address. A data logger can be connected with
multiple inverters at the same time to capture data simultaneously. Similarly, weather monitoring
parameters such as pyranometer, anemometer or other sensors, depending on the requirement

P a g e 46
could be connected in simultaneously and capture data. The sample register address mapping
for inverter and Pyranometer has been given in Table 17 and Table 18.
Table 17: Sample Inverter Modbus Register Mapping

Address Size Name Type Units Description

40070 1 C_SunSpec_DID uint16 101 = Single phase 102 =

Split phase1 103 = Three
phase

40071 1 C_SunSpec_Length uint16 Registers 50 = Length of model block

40072 1 I_AC_Current uint16 Amps AC Total current value

40073 1 I_AC_CurrentA uint16 Amps AC Phase A current value

40074 1 I_AC_CurrentB uint16 Amps AC Phase B current value

40075 1 I_AC_CurrentC uint16 Amps AC Phase C current value

40076 1 I_AC_Current_SF int16 AC Current scale factor

40077 1 I_AC_VoltageAB uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase AB value

40078 1 I_AC_VoltageBC uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase BC value

40079 1 I_AC_VoltageCA uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase CA value

40080 1 I_AC_VoltageAN 2,3 4 uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase A to N

value

40081 1 I_AC_VoltageBN 3, 4 uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase B to N

value

40082 1 I_AC_VoltageCN 4 uint16 Volts AC Voltage phase C to N

value

40083 1 I_AC_Voltage_SF int16 AC Voltage scale factor

40084 1 I_AC_Power int16 Watts AC Power value

40085 1 I_AC_Power_SF int16 AC Power scale factor

40086 1 I_AC_Frequency uint16 Hertz AC Frequency value

40087 1 I_AC_Frequency_SF int16 Scale factor

40088 1 I_AC_VA int16 VA Apparent power

P a g e 47
Address Size Name Type Units Description

40089 1 I_AC_VA_SF int16 Scale factor

40090 1 I_AC_VAR int16 VAR Reactive power

40091 1 I_AC_VAR_SF int16 Scale factor

40092 1 I_AC_PF int16 Percent Power factor4

40093 1 I_AC_PF_SF int16 Scale factor

40094 I_AC_Energy_WH acc32 Watt hours AC Lifetime energy

production

40096 1 I_AC_Energy_WH_SF uint16 Scale factor

40097 1 I_DC_Current uint16 Amps DC current value

40098 1 I_DC_Current_SF int16 Scale factor

40099 1 I_DC_Voltage uint16 Volts DC voltage value

40100 1 I_DC_Voltage_SF int16 Scale factor

40101 1 I_DC_Power int16 Watts DC power value

40102 1 I_DC_Power_SF int16 Scale factor

40104 1 I_Temp_Sink int16 Degrees Heat sink temperature

Centigrade

40107 1 I_Temp_SF int16 Scale factor

40108 1 I_Status uint16 Operating state

40109 1 I_Status_Vendor uint16 Vendor-defined operating

state and error codes. The
errors displayed here are
similar to the ones displayed
on the inverter LCD screen.
For error description, meaning
and troubleshooting, refer to
the SolarEdge Installation
Guide. 5*

40110 2 I_Event_1 uint32 Not implemented

P a g e 48
 Address Size Name Type Units Description

40112 2 I_Event_2 uint32 Not implemented

40114 2 I_Event_1_Vendor uint32 Vendor defined events: 0 x 1

(bit- - off-grid (Available from
mask) inverter CPU firmware version
3.19xx and above) 4*

40116 2 I_Event_2_Vendor uint32 Not implemented

40118 2 I_Event_3_Vendor uint32 Not implemented

40120 2 I_Event_4_Vendor uint32 3 x 2 in the inverter manual

(LCD display) is translated to
0x03000002 in the
I_Event_4_Vendor register
(Available from inverter CPU
firmware version 3.19xx and
above) 4*5

Table 18: Sample Modbus Pyranometer Register Mappings

Value Type Measurement Address Value

0 Instantaneous

2 Mean

Irradiance 4 Minimum

6 Maximum

Floating Point, 8 Total

2 x 16 Bit
10 Instantaneous

12 Mean

Temperature 14 Minimum

16 Maximum

5 www .solaredge.com/sites/default/files/sunspec-implementation-technical-note.pdf

P a g e 49
 Value Type Measurement Address Value

18 Total

1000 Instantaneous

1001 Mean

Irradiance 1002 Minimum

1003 Maximum

Integer, 1004 Total

1 x 16 bit
1005 Instantaneous

1006 Mean

Temperature 1007 Minimum

1008 Maximum

1009 Total6

6 : www.slg-instruments.com/manuel/INSTUM_01242_en.pdf

P a g e 50
ANNEXURE – II
A few Indian Standards for hardware equipment are enlisted in table 19.
Table 19:Indian Standard for Distributed generation Resources

Sr. No. Standards

1 Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the

Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2010

2 Central Electricity Authority (Technical Standards for Connectivity of the

Distributed Generation Resources) Regulations, 2013

3 Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Amendment

Regulations, 2014

4 Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Amendment

Regulations, 2010

5 Central Electricity Authority (Installation and Operation of Meters) Regulations,

2006

6 IS-13779-1999 — IS ac Static Watthour Meters, Class l and 2-Specification With

Amendments 1-4

7 IS-13779-1999 — IS ac Static Watthour Meters, Class l and 2-Specification With

Amendments 5

8 IEC/IS 61683 — Photovoltaic Systems — Power Conditioners: Procedure for

Measuring Efficiency (10 Percent, 25 Percent, 50 Percent, 75 Percent, 90
Percent, and 100 Percent Loading Conditions)

P a g e 51
U.S. Agency for International Development
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20523
P a g e 52
Tel: (202) 712-0000
Fax: (202) 216-3524
www.usaid.gov