Renewable Energy Monitoring System

A solar photovoltaic renewable energy monitoring system for monitoring a solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device mounted on or adjacent to a building, comprising:

• a device monitor coupled to a solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device to monitor said solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device and generate monitoring data defining a status of said solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device, said device monitor wirelessly communicating said monitoring data to a gateway using a wireless communications link, said gateway receiving said monitoring data from said device monitor and communicating said monitoring data to a monitoring station;
• and
• a wireless repeater providing said communications link between said device monitor and said gateway, wherein said wireless repeater comprises:
• a wireless transceiver module;
• a plurality of spaced apart antennas coupled to said wireless transceiver module;
• at least one antenna interface having one or more of said plurality of spaced apart antennas electrically coupled thereto;
• wherein said wireless transceiver module is coupled to said at least one antenna interface, said wireless transceiver module comprising data receiving and transmission means to receive said monitoring data from at least one of said plurality of spaced apart antennas and to transmit said monitoring data using one or more other of said plurality of spaced apart antennas, and a processing element coupled to said data receiving and transmission means to process said monitoring data received and transmitted from said one or more of said plurality of antennas.

A method of monitoring a solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device mounted on or adjacent to a building, the method comprising:

• generating monitoring data at a solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device, said monitoring data defining a status of said solar photovoltaic renewable energy generation device;
• wirelessly communicating said monitoring data to a gateway using a wireless communications link, said gateway communicating said monitoring data to a monitoring station;
• using a wireless repeater to provide said wireless communications link, the wireless repeater comprising:
• a plurality of spaced apart antennas each having an associated region of transmission and reception, and at least one antenna interface having one or more of said plurality of spaced apart antennas electrically coupled thereto;
• the method further comprising using a wireless transceiver module to receive monitoring data from at least one of said plurality of spaced apart antennas using data receiving means, processing said received monitoring data, and transmitting said processed and received monitoring data using said data transmission means to one or more other of said plurality of spaced apart antennas.