The monitoring capability is provided by the microinverters or the string inverter and power optimizers. This depends on your system configuration, combined with the solar monitoring system. A stand-alone monitor is also applicable if needed.
In most cases, there is one microinverter per solar panel. Each microinverter’s primary function is to convert the solar panel’s DC into the AC. It also measures the amount of AC electricity output.
Each microinverter continuously feeds this data to a central controller that delivers the data to a cloud-based data storage and application system.
Using the internet or a mobile application, you can then view or download the data in a table or graph format. Since each microinverter sends data, you can see the energy production at the individual solar panel level.
Since the string inverter is central, it can only report on the total electricity from all the panels connected to it. It cannot report on a per solar panel basis. Each can collect production data for its connected solar panel. Although different manufacturers’ energy monitoring devices display data in various formats, they all convey the same basic information: the amount of energy (kWh) and power (kW), on a per panel or system-wide basis at a particular time or over a certain time period (per minute, hour, day, week, month, year, lifetime). Using this data, you can see the amount of energy generated on a specific day.