December 9, 2019
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
*This press release was originally published in Japanese on November 13, 2019.

Sumitomo Electric Starts Solar Power Generation Diagnostic
Services for Power Plants in Japan
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. started a service that reports on the status ofsolar power generation in each power plant by using AI-analysis algorithm(proprietary development) in this November. This service is applicable for theCompany’s power line communication (PLC) string monitoring systems within
Japan.
For solar power plants to maintain stable power generation over a long period of time, itis vital to immediately detect malfunctions in the facilities and determine
countermeasures. Accordingly, it is indispensable for solar power plants to install a
constant monitoring system. Sumitomo Electric has already provided PLC-string
monitoring systems* that can detect a large reduction in power generation in advance.
After having received requests for more effective use of collected data from manycustomers, the Company starts a service that automatically analyzes a large quantity ofdata by using AI and provides daily, monthly and annual analysis reports includinganomaly detection, location identification and countermeasure proposals at low cost.
The daily report provides power generation status, malfunction locations and causes ofmalfunctions on the day. The monthly report presents the monthly power generation
status at a glance. The annual report detects and analyzes abnormalities for eachstring from various viewpoints, such as reverse current, aging degradation and theeffects of shadows from surrounding buildings and trees to identify strings that require
inspection. In addition, the annual report provides detailed analysis on each powerplant, including proposals for increasing power generation capacity and comparison ofpower output with the previous year.
In the trial operation for the past year (for power plants of 1 MW to 80 MW in DCequivalent), this service contributed remarkably to the improvement of plantmaintenance efficiency, operational stability and power output. For example, it

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successfully identified locations that tend to be affected by shadows, clarified theamount of loss in power sales, and proposed wiring improvements to maximize powersales income. In another case, defective panels were identified early enough to be
replaced at no charge within the warranty period.
In this analysis, we have utilized the verification results accumulated in the FY 2017
Advanced Energy Safety Regulations for New Energy (Evaluation and Verification
Project for Advanced Safety Technology for Electrical Facilities) sponsored by theMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry. We will continue to support the expansion ofsmart security by developing and providing new products and services that contributeto the labor-saving and efficient operation of solar power plants.
This service is applicable for products other than the string monitoring systems
provided by Sumitomo Electric (the content of some of the analysis may be restricted).
Please feel free to contact us.
* String is a minimum configuration unit of series-connected photovoltaic panels▲Annual report to be provided (actual example)■ Reference
Sumitomo Electric's Website
https://sumitomoelectric.com/

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