Metering and control subsystems for photovoltaic solar systems

A metering and control subsystem for a photovoltaic solar system, the metering and control subsystem comprising:

• a plurality of photovoltaic branch connectors each configured for coupling to a respective photovoltaic branch circuit, wherein each photovoltaic branch circuit comprises one or more inverters each coupled to a respective photovoltaic solar module of the photovoltaic solar system;
• a relay matrix comprising, for each photovoltaic branch circuit, a relay coupled to the photovoltaic branch circuit;
• a plurality of current measurement devices, one for each photovoltaic branch circuit, wherein each current measurement device is coupled to a respective relay of the relay matrix, and wherein each current measurement device is configured to measure current flowing through the relay;
• a metering and relay control circuit coupled to the relay matrix and the current measurement devices, wherein the metering and relay control circuit is configured for metering the photovoltaic solar system using current measurement data from the current measurement devices and individually controlling the relays to selectively energize each photovoltaic branch circuit;
• and
• an interface connector for coupling the metering and control circuit to a photovoltaic supervisor system configured for communicating with the inverters of the photovoltaic solar system;
• wherein the metering and relay control circuit is configured for using the current measurement data to determine that the current flowing through at least one of the photovoltaic branch circuits exceeds a threshold current and, in response, cause an overcurrent shutdown by controlling a corresponding relay to de-energize the photovoltaic branch circuit;
• wherein the metering and relay control circuit is configured for receiving relay control commands from the photovoltaic supervisor system using the interface connector and individually controlling the relays based on the relay control commands;
• and
• wherein each current measurement device is coupled to a respective relay of the relay matrix by a first node of the current measurement device, and wherein the metering and control subsystem comprises, for each photovoltaic branch circuit, at least one circuit breaker coupled to a second node of the current measurement device for the photovoltaic branch circuit;
• and
• wherein the metering and control subsystem comprises a dedicated alternating current (AC) shutdown switch configured to de-energize all of the photovoltaic branch circuits.