The Golden Age of Solar Energy Under the 13th Five-Year Plan

The recently released “13th Five-Year Plan” has propelled the photovoltaic industry to a whole new level: photovoltaic power generation has been singled out and given special emphasis, signaling that this industry has received substantial attention at the macro level of national strategy. The “Plan” explicitly states that by the end of 2020, the total installed capacity of solar thermal power generation will reach 10 GW, and the cumulative area of solar thermal collectors will reach 800 million square meters. This means that the photovoltaic power generation industry will achieve significant, breakthrough development during the 13th Five-Year Period.

<bold>However, while the photovoltaic industry has achieved rapid development, it still faces numerous technical challenges that urgently need to be addressed—for example, the lack of monitoring systems for already-built power stations makes it impossible to keep track of their operational status. Particularly after a certain number of years in operation, power stations begin to enter a period of frequent failures. If equipment aging and malfunctions are not detected promptly, this could pose significant safety risks to the entire system. Moreover, given the large number of distributed solar photovoltaic devices, it is also crucial to implement detailed, localized monitoring of individual components and to strengthen localized control measures.</bold>

How can we detect faults in advance and respond swiftly? For distributed power plants, how can we achieve unified management that covers every aspect? This places high demands on the timely updating of system components, prompt fault responses, and timely maintenance based on monitoring and analysis results. Under these circumstances, photovoltaic systems need to integrate software and hardware solutions in a closely coordinated manner to maximizeinvestment returns.

For example, VIA Technologies is a global leader in highly integrated embedded platforms and system solutions, while Hailong Software boasts significant strengths in computer network system design and integration, as well as the development of computer application software systems. What kind of sparks will fly when VIA Technologies—a “hard” player—and Hailong Software—a “soft” player—join forces in the photovoltaic sector?

Since 2015, VIA and Shanghai Hailong Software Co., Ltd. have been collaborating to jointly develop AMOS, an industry-leading photovoltaic power plant operation and maintenance management system, in the field of PV power plant O&M. Built on the AMOS-3005 hardware platform, this system enables uninterrupted communication of on-site data from photovoltaic power plants. At the same time, it leverages RS-485 to facilitate data communication among grid-connected meters, inverters, and combiner boxes, and through I/O integration, it can directly acquire digital signals from grid-connected switches. In addition, the AMOS-3005 comes with a built-in small database that allows for long-term data storage at the power plant site. Furthermore, via network connectivity—either wired or wireless (with a built-in 4G mobile communication module)—the system can communicate with cloud-based systems.