With the rapid growth of Brazil’s solar market, more and more households are installing rooftop PV systems to reduce electricity costs and gain long-term energy benefits. In this case, we turn our attention to a residential rooftop solar project located in the Parelheiros district, in southern São Paulo — a typical urban neighborhood where houses are closely connected, and obstacles such as chimneys, adjoining walls, and water tanks are common. These conditions have led to several challenges faced by the user.
Due to the series connection of PV modules, the current of the entire string is determined by the weakest-performing module. When one module is shaded, the output power of the whole string drops significantly, making it difficult to achieve the expected generation capacity.
To solve the shading issue, most solutions on the market require installing optimizers on all modules, which substantially increases system costs.
In Brazil, labor costs are relatively high. When system failures occur, homeowners face expensive O&M expenses. If they attempt troubleshooting on their own, it is often difficult to locate the faulty module and may lead to safety risks such as electric shock or falling accidents.
To overcome these challenges, the homeowner adopted AndSolar’s module-level precise management solution. Optimizers were deployed on the most shaded strings, enabling each module to operate independently. Even when edge modules are partially shaded, the rest can still maintain their optimal performance point. With module-level MPPT optimization, the system effectively eliminates the “barrel effect” of traditional PV strings and achieves up to 5–30% higher energy yield under the same environmental conditions.
During the system design phase, instead of recommending a full-optimizer solution, AndSolar proposed a mixed installation design combining RSD and Power Optimizer, based on the actual rooftop layout.
This approach considered the varying sunlight exposure across different roof areas. For unshaded and stable sections, RSD was used to ensure safety; for shaded areas, optimizers were applied to maximize power generation.
Both devices feature module-level rapid shutdown, automatically reducing system voltage to below 80V within 30 seconds in emergencies — ensuring personnel and property safety, and fully meeting the ABNT NBR:17193 in Brazil. By implementing this solution, the project achieved both safety and efficiency while reducing the overall investment cost by approximately 50%.
Serving as the smart core of the PV system, the homeowner uses the AndSolar Cloud to generate a 1:1 digital twin of the power plant. This enables real-time monitoring of voltage, current, power, temperature, and generation data — significantly reducing the need for manual inspections and allowing for quick fault localization, improving O&M efficiency by over 50%. The platform also integrates AI-based diagnostic analysis, automatically detecting potential faults and providing O&M recommendations to enhance management efficiency and asset performance.
This project clearly demonstrates the advantages of AndSolar’s module-level precise management solution in complex rooftop environments. Optimizers effectively resolve shading-induced energy losses, while the hybrid solution ensures safety compliance and dramatically reduces system cost. Together, they have improved both power generation and investment returns for the homeowner.
AndSolar Technology is a tech-company engaged in photovoltaic module-level power electronics (MLPE) and distributed photovoltaic smart energy overall solutions.
