Protect Your Investment

Having an O&M (operations & maintenance) company  that can service utility scale and commercial photovoltaic systems takes much of the stress out of the equation.  Not only can this type of company perform the necessary scheduled maintenance, they also will manage anomaly alerts, make system repairs, evaluate network voltage and frequency, monitor and report on energy production, and other critical factors related to the solar array.

An O&M agreement provides a working plan to cover repairs, protect warranties, and perform preventive maintenance.  To ensure a facility is operating at optimum efficiency and not losing money, an O&M provider will generally install a monitoring system to not only keep a close watch on all of the arrays working components  to achieve maximum performance, but also to analyze and report on energy production, trend costs, produce quick budgets on site and more.

Utilizing state-of-the art technology and highly experienced solar energy engineering staff, an O&M company has the ability to track all of the indicators and parameters to optimize performance and to carry out the required maintenance of each solar farm.

Protect your investment Anything can go Wrong on a Solar Farm

When it comes to solar power plants, a critical consideration to achieving maximum power output is the ongoing operation and maintenance (O&M) following the commissioning of the system.  Although solar installations are highly reliable and designed to run with minimal manpower, efficiency will be lost and energy generation decreased if not maintained properly.

Solar equipment can be kept in service for decades with regular and proper attention to all major and ancillary features; however, many asset managers may not have a handle on what is really needed in the day-to-day operations of a power plant.  Undetected failures and small issues impact the overall operations of the system, which leads to lost revenues and lower energy generation compounding with each undetected, unmanaged issue.

But neglecting or minimizing O&M can result in costs, often significant costs, to owners and operators of solar PV installations. These costs include:

• Decreased electricity production, leading to revenues below facility potential and financial projections;
• Diminished asset and component values due to accelerated plant degradation;
• Increased risks to owners, including compliance risk with applicable regulations; and
• Decreased transparency on plant production, performance, and maintenance requirements.

As the solar PV industry matures, what is needed now is a comprehensive approach to managing these assets and providing actionable information for reducing costs. This program should be comprehensive and cover items such as site, structural, electrical, monitoring, contracts, and cleaning issues.  Currently, there are some market approaches to improve the design phase, some for monitoring, and some for basic O&M. This is the market failure that needs to be addressed in the next step of the evolution of the solar PV industry.