Performance monitoring is a crucial but often overlooked part of owning a solar or solar + storage system. After installation, it’s normal to be curious about whether your SunPower® solar power system is working properly and how much energy it’s producing. Here’s what you need to know about monitoring your system using mySunPower.
What is solar monitoring and what are its benefits?
Solar monitoring is the process of tracking the energy production and status of a home solar system. Robust solar monitoring will observe all aspects of a solar system, monitoring solar panel production, battery storage and electricity usage in one place.1
Within the mySunPower monitoring app, homeowners can quickly see if their home is currently being powered by solar energy, drawing power from the electrical grid or sending the excess energy produced back to the utility. If you have SunVault™ storage, you can view the battery status and charge level as well as make power preference decisions for how your battery storage is used. Monitoring your whole home energy system in one place gives you the ability to adjust preferences for your system to maximize savings or prepare for potential outages – whatever is most important for you.
What can I learn from solar monitoring?
Beyond understanding the energy production and current status of your SunPower solar system, enhanced solar monitoring will provide greater insight into your system’s historical data and how different variables impact both your energy production and usage.
One aspect of this monitoring is seeing how solar, utility grid and storage usage changes over time or with seasonal differences. The mySunPower monitoring app enables homeowners to view consumption trends by day, month, year and across the lifetime of your system. With this information, you can estimate savings and help plan for your future energy needs such as adding a new member to your family or purchasing an electric vehicle.
If your SunPower system is equipped with microinverters, you can monitor the performance of each solar panel in your solar array. Accessible panel level data allows homeowners to easily view and understand how their system’s performance is impacted by weather, shading or panel angle. Time-lapsed playback of each solar panel’s energy production shows which solar panels are performing the best and which may be impacted by obstructions such as potential debris or shading. To get access to panel level monitoring, please reach out to your SunPower installer.
Why is solar monitoring important?
Solar monitoring can give you peace of mind that your whole home energy system – from your solar storage all the way to individual solar panels – is working properly.
If you’re concerned that there might be an issue with your system, the mySunPower monitoring app offers you the transparency to take a closer look at the individual panel level and help pinpoint problems. Indicators showing a status for each solar panel in your system will help you spot when something may need a closer look, such as a solar panel having trouble communicating with the monitoring device. This level of detail makes it easier for your solar installer to work towards a resolution.
Proactive and holistic solar monitoring can help you identify any potential issues early on, before you notice an issue on your utility bill.