Tokyo, April 21, 2015
Fujitsu today announced that it will begin offering to solar power companies and maintenance operators the FUJITSU Intelligent Society Solution Venus Solar, a small-scale solar power generation monitoring service it developed that utilizes the cloud. This service is available in Japan from today.
Intended for small-scale solar power generation facilities held by solar power companies, this service collects data by the minute on the volume of electricity generated by each power conditioning system, or PCS(1), which bundles together solar battery panels, using monitoring devices connected to each PCS so that the data can be centrally managed in the cloud. In comparison to conventional power-facility output monitoring services, which monitor on a per-facility basis, Venus Solar can provide more precise, per-PCS energy generation monitoring. From the collected data on power generation levels, the service can detect reductions in power generation, suspensions of power generation, and abnormalities in correlation comparisons with other PCSs, and send email alerts to managers. This allows managers to discover mechanical failures or power generation problems at an early stage.
Solar energy generation systems are composed of solar battery panels and PCSs, which convert and bundle the power generated by the panels. These systems may experience failures resulting from various environmental factors or other causes. In addition, power generation performance may decline as the equipment ages. As such, for solar power companies, the early detection of problems plays a critical role in preventing lost opportunities.
Starting today, Fujitsu is offering Venus Solar to small-scale solar energy companies in Japan to provide detailed power generation monitoring and detection of abnormalities through a variety of analyses.
Features of the Service
1. Centralized management of detailed energy generation conditions at dispersed power plants
Venus Solar takes data from the monitoring devices connected to PCSs at each power facility, and uses the highly secure and reliable public cloud service FUJITSU Cloud IaaS Trusted Public S5 to collect the data and centrally manage the power generation data of different facilities. The collected electric power data can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, including the energy generation business as a whole, individual energy generation business units (such as projects or investment funds), or individual power facilities, to enable confirmation on the status of power generation. In addition, the service can present hourly/daily power generation results in graph format, and it also offers a function that brings together the necessary data for operations managers in the form of a report.
2. Includes an alert function that detects a variety of abnormalities
It is necessary to have customized alert thresholds for each power facility because solar power generation is greatly influenced by location, season, and weather conditions. The service detects reductions in power generation, suspensions of power generation, and abnormalities in correlation comparisons with other PCSs based on Fujitsu's proprietary algorithm, and immediately sends an email alert to notify the business and the operations managers when there is an abnormality.
3. Stores maintenance history to use as knowledge
Management of trouble status makes it possible to establish workflows for monitoring operations. In addition, by accumulating and analyzing the maintenance history data that includes the status and details of actions taken, it is possible to use that data in upcoming maintenance in anticipation of trouble.
Pricing and Availability
Pricing and Availability
| Product Name |
Retail Price (excl. taxes) |
Availability |
| FUJITSU Intelligent Society Solution Venus Solar |
Start-up cost: From JPY 72,000 (1 monitoring device)
Monthly cloud service fee: By individual quotation |
April 21, 2015 |
Sales Target
2,000 monitoring devices by the end of fiscal 2015.
