• VCOM: Innovation by Experience
New meteocontrol VCOM O&M App
New Editor for System Availability: Parametrization of the Calculation

• Our Latest Monitoring Tutorial is Live: How to Access the blue'Log on a Local Area Network

• blue’Log X series: New Firmware, New Functions
New Stable Firmware 1.8.4
Expansion of Compatibilities

• Discontinuation: Portal Alarm SMS

Visit our homepage to find out about all our new developments and news at www.meteocontrol.com.

Perfect O&M Solar Management on the Go!

The new VCOM O&M app is available now from the Google Play and Apple Stores. Whether you are on site or on the move, our new app for the VCOM Solar Monitoring Platform helps you save time and money. You can view and edit maintenance tickets offline, easily and fully document service calls by uploading comments and images, and always have access to the most important system data including site locations and contact details. Staff in the control room are automatically updated with the latest information entered in the field. The app is smartphone and tablet compatible. Get registered in VCOM (with the maintenance ticketing option) to activate this powerful mobile tool.

Do you monitor your systems with safer'Sun Professional? Are you interested in switching to monitoring in the VCOM?

We are happy to offer advice – e-mail our sales staff at sales-na@meteocontrol.com or call them on 224-310-5700. We appreciate your feedback regarding the new VCOM O&M app.

Check back in the New Year for updates on our next App release.

Boost your monitoring expertise! Accessing a blue'Log through the local area network allows you to configure and troubleshoot when there is no internet on site.

Our newest video is live now. Click the picture below to watch, check out our videos webpage, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tutorials, interviews, and product videos.

With the new editor in the VCOM, you can modify the parameters that you use to calculate system availability. Now, you can set the irradiance threshold for the calculation. Two methods are available to choose from:

• At the system level, the system monitors the energy of the entire solar plant.
• At the inverter level, the energy of every inverter is tracked. These individual values are used to create an overall value.

You will find the editor under system configuration. Click the wrench icon on the system level. The feature will be available to all partners with the Premium service level from the November release on 11/21/2017.

New Stable Firmware 1.8.4

The new Stable Firmware 1.8.4 for dataloggers in the blue’Log X series is now available. It offers Power Control with optimized on-site energy consumption (Intelligent Power Limit - IPL).

In a number of markets, grid operators require grid feed-in of electricity from PV systems to be limited to an agreed value on a permanent basis. It must also be ensured that the feeding of electricity into the public grid is avoided and that all PV power is used for on-site energy consumption at any time instead.

PV systems with on-site energy consumption and one of the above requirements on the part of the grid operator require a technical setup which dynamically limits the feed-in active power and thus ensures that no power is fed into the public electricity grid. With the “IPL” function offered by our dataloggers in the blue’Log X series, this requirement can be met in conjunction with the relevant energy meters.

With the new firmware, we have further improved the IPL function and made it as flexible as possible within the system infrastructure.

The following meter combinations are now available to regulate on-site energy consumption:

1. Feed-in, Import Meter, and Consumption Meter
(or Alternatively in Combination with Yield Meter) 
- with a very low permitted feed-in active power (e.g. 0 % feed-in) and high energy consumption.
- with dynamic systems, e.g. with significant fluctuations in consumption (highly fluctuating load profile).
- with the feed-in active power permanently limited to < 100 %, particularly recommended for 0 % grid feed-in.

2. Feed-in and Import Meter
sufficient if permanent limiting of the permitted feed-in active power is not required, e.g. only temporary regulation by solar direct marketers is to be expected (e.g. grid-coupled free field systems with full feed-in).

3. Consumption Meter
for systems without a feed-in and import meter and without mandatory reactive power control by a central park controller (GS controller), e.g. small to medium-sized commercial roof systems.

Depending on the requirements profile, you can select the relevant measuring devices from our portfolio:
• Power quality analyzer UMG604 24 V: Item No. 422.129
• Power quality analyzer UMG604 230 V: Item No. 422.128
• Schneider Electric energy meter iEM3155 (3-phase, direct connection up to 63 A): Item No. 424.206
• Schneider Electric energy meter iEM3255 (3-phase, transformer connection): Item No. 424.207

Other meters can also be connected to the system on a project-specific basis. A Modbus interface (Modbus RTU / TCP) is always required.

Push Service:
• The ftp push function is now compatible with Windows servers.

Effective immediately, the following components are supported:

Inverters:
• Ingeteam / INGECON SUN B Series and INGECON SUN 100TL
• Huawei: SUN2000-33KTL-E001, SUN2000-40KTL-US, SUN2000-33KTL-US, SUN2000-36KTL-US, SUN2000-33KTL-A and SUN2000-24,5KTL
• Delta with Sunspec protocol: RPI M15A, RPI M20A, RPI M30A, RPI M50A, RPI M60U, RPI M80U and M88H
• Sungrow SG-36KTL-M

Sensors:
• Configuration profiles for the new Si series irradiance sensors are now available.
• EKO pyranometers with a Modbus interface (e.g. MS-602) are now supported.

Meters:
• Schneider Electric meters from the PM5000 series are now supported.

As announced in our July newsletter, we will stop sending portal alarm messages via SMS from 12/31/2017. Please remember to switch your alarm contacts to e-mail.