The Competitiveness of Continuous Monitoring of Residential PV Systems: A Model and Insights From the Japanese Market

Residential photovoltaic (PV) systems installed worldwide have kept growing in number over the last two decades and represent a predominant component of the PV market in a number of countries including Japan. The status quo in the maintenance of these systems is based on periodic inspections (PIs), with a few PV systems manufacturers and maintenance service providers now starting to offer services based on continuous monitoring (CM). Profitability of CM versus PI has been widely studied in the literature, with respect to conventional power systems as well as wind turbines. No such studies exist on residential PV systems, particularly from the viewpoint of the service provider. Our work addresses this gap. We first develop a stochastic model of a residential PV installation, accounting for its degradation and failures. We then develop a model of the costs and benefits for both the system owner and the maintenance service provider, under both PI and CM. We conclude by analyzing the profitability of the two maintenance schemes using real data from the Japanese market.