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Drone infrared camera monitoring of photovoltaic (PV) power plants allows us to quickly see a large area and to find the worst defects in PV panels, namely cracked PV cells with broken contacts. Roofs are suitable for the integration of PV power plants into buildings. The power plant at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, which was monitored by this method, does not show any significant defects, and the produced electric energy exceeds the expected values. On the contrary, the PV power plant in Ladná has visible defects, and the data monitoring system Solarmon-2.0 also indicates defects. Our newly developed data monitoring system Solarmon-2.0 has been successfully used in 65 PV power plants in the Czech Republic and in many PV power plants throughout the world. Data are archived and interpreted in our dispatch area at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. The monitoring system can report possible failure(s) if the measured amount of energy differs from the expected value(s). The relation of the measured values of PV power to the PV panel temperature is justified, which is consistent with the physical theory of semiconductors.

An innovative solar monitoring system has been developed. The system aimed at measuring the main parameters and characteristics of solar plants; collecting, diagnosing and processing data. The system communicates with the inverters, electrometers, metrological equipment and additional components of the photovoltaic arrays. The developed and constructed long working system is built on special data collecting technologies. At the generating plants, a special data logger BBbox is installed. The new monitoring system has been used to follow 65 solar plants in the Czech Republic and elsewhere for 175 MWp. As an example, we have selected 13 PV plants in this paper that are at least seven years old. The monitoring system contributes to quality management of plants, and it also provides data for scientific purposes. Production of electricity in the built PV plants reflects the expected values according to internationally used software PVGIS (version 5) during the previous seven years of operation. A comparison of important system parameters clearly shows the new solutions and benefits of the new Solarmon-2.0 monitoring system. Secured communications will increase data protection. A higher frequency of data saving allows higher accuracy of the mathematical models.

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There exist over 2 GW of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the Czech Republic, exposed to moderate continental climate. Although there exist many PV modules defects, thanks to the generally the same production year 2009, only some of them are usual at systems installed in Czech Republic. This work shows delamination failures that are frequent in moderate climate conditions. Special account is taken into edge delamination defect and its possible propagation in modules of standard construction. Combined PV panel and PV inverter failure is caused by edge delamination with water penetration and high string voltage. The electric discharge channel is created between the string of solar panels and the grounded PV panel frames. The result of the discharge channel created because of edge delamination is inverter switch-OFF and few months later total destruction of the inverter because of protective relay damage. The number of combined PV panel and PV inverter failures is increasing substantially after ninth year of operation of PV panels in moderate climate. Additional sealing of the PV panel frames by transparent polysiloxane gel reduced the number of combined PV panel and PV inverter failures very substantially.

The efficiency of the photovoltaic energy conversion depends on the temperature significantly. We monitored the behavior of I-V characteristics of the PV cell based on monocrystalline silicon in temperature range with extreme limits from −170°C to +100°C. We have not yet found a similar measurement in this temperature interval. The temperature of PV modules without radiation concentration can reach values of −100°C to +100°C on the Earth's surface. The temperature range may be few wider in space. Changes of I-V characteristics and P-V characteristics are discussed in terms of the theory of solids. The open-circuit voltage dependence is approximately linear over a wide temperature range, but saturation occurs at temperatures around −150°C, which is also explained in accordance with the theory of semiconductors. The decrease in energy conversion efficiency with increasing temperature has a value of about 0.5%/°C throughout the whole temperature range possible on the Earth's surface. If there are large changes in the temperature of the PV modules during operation of the PV system, the electrical voltage of the PV modules will also change considerably. In space applications, these fluctuations may be greater. This must be taken into account when designing PV systems (especially for deep space missions). For example, electronic inverters are sensitive to overvoltage or undervoltage.