SMA Expands Sunny Portal Accessibility with New Android Application
Smartphone users with the Android operating system can now access critical performance data from any photovoltaic (PV) system on the SMA Sunny Portal, described as the world’s largest Web-based PV monitoring solution. Available for free download from the Android Market, the SMA Sunny Portal Android application allows solar power system owners and operators to manage, monitor and display PV system performance instantly, anytime and anywhere. This new addition complements SMA’s Sunny Portal and Solarchecker applications for the Apple iPhone.
"The new Sunny Portal Android application allows even more PV system owners and operators to monitor their systems while on the go," said Jurgen Krehnke, president and general manager of SMA America and president of SMA Canada. "This conserves both time and costs because they are able to instantly access system data to ensure peak production and discover unnoticed performance disturbances."
Much like its companion, SunnyPortal.com, the Sunny Portal application provides a snapshot of any registered PV system, regardless of configuration or size. The application boasts a visual display of a system’s energy yield for the day, month, year and life-to-date of the system, in addition to listing its CO2 savings in tons per year. This data is uploaded daily via the SMA Sunny WebBox, a powerful communication hub that continuously collects data from the solar inverters.
Additional data displayed by the Sunny Portal application includes the system’s commission date, size, and properties and parameters of the modules, inverters and communications hardware used. And because a solar power system can be accessed anywhere in the world with the Sunny Portal application, it also provides the system’s location, including latitude, longitude and time zone. Meanwhile, the application’s Logbook offers an event history of the system.
Users can also record their own system data, from additional technical details to contact information for the PV planners and installers.
SMA’s system-planning iPhone application, the Solarchecker, allows users to determine the best placement of a solar power system and how much energy and revenue it could produce. After the iPhone’s GPS locator pinpoints the user’s location, the magnetic compass provides site orientation while the inclination sensor determines the roof pitch. Then, the Solarchecker automatically accesses a weather database to determine the solar radiation available at that spot. Finally, the application estimates a project’s return on investment and provides a list of qualified, local solar energy specialists to install the proposed system.
More news and information regarding the latest developments in Smart Grid electronics can be found at Darnell’s SmartGridElectronics.Net.
