Operation & Maintenance Best Practices Guidelines (Version 6.0)
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1.1. Rationale, aim and scope
Quality must be present at every stage of an asset’s lifecycle to ensure that it operates smoothly. A professional Operation & Maintenance (O&M) service package ensures that a photovoltaic system will maintain high levels of technical, safety and consequently economic performance over its operational lifetime. Tt is widely acknowledged by all stakeholders that high quality O&M services are vital to improving the overall quality management of an asset’s lifecycle, mitigating the potential risks, improving the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) prices, and positively impacting the return on investment (ROI).
Therefore, increasing the quality of O&M services is important and, in contrast, neglecting O&M is risky. However, O&M does not work in a vacuum and poor practices at any stage of an asset’s lifecycle can lead to problems in the future. For a full overview of how quality can be assured throughout a solar PV project, please refer to SolarPower Europe’s Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), Asset Management, and Lifecycle Quality Guidelines, available at www.solarbestpractices.com.
According to SolarPower Europe’s 100% Renewable Europe study, a further 870 GW of solar will be required by 2030 if the EU is to achieve its ambitious climate targets. The shear amount of additional solar capacity means that O&M service providers will be under greater scrutiny than ever to provide exceptional “health care” that keeps new solar PV plants running optimally. This makes harmonisation of best practices more vital than ever as Europe transitions to carbon neutrality. For this version 5.0, the Definitions and Stakeholders sections have been moved to the new Lifecycle Quality Guidelines, highlighting the importance of a common understanding between all stakeholders through a project’s lifecycle. This version also takes a more integrated approach to Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE), showing how quality processes and systems across all these areas interact with each other. Finally, the growth of the commercial & industrial rooftop segment has led to the redesign of the best practice recommendations in Chapter 13 O&M for rooftop solar.
SolarPower Europe’s O&M Best Practice Guidelines are a key tool to set quality standards for service providers and enhance investors’ understanding and confidence1. The value proposition of these Guidelines is that its industry-led, containing the knowledge and the experience of well-established and leading companies in the field of O&M service provision, project development and construction (EPC), asset management, utilities, manufacturers and monitoring tool providers.
The scope of the current work includes the utility scale segment and more specifically, systems above 1 MW. Specificities related to O&M for distributed solar installations are explained in chapter 13, O&M for rooftop solar. These Guidelines are based on the experience of companies operating globally (with a concentration in Europe), therefore, it provides high-level requirements that can be applied worldwide. Specific national considerations such as legal requirements are not included and should therefore be considered separately if these Guidelines are to be used in specific countries.
The content covers technical and non-technical requirements, classifying them when possible into:
- minimum requirements, below which the O&M service is considered as poor or insufficient, and which form a minimum quality threshold for a professional and bankable service provider
- best practices, which are methods considered state-of-the-art, producing optimal results by balancing the technical as well as the financial side
- recommendations, which can add to the quality of the service, but whose implementation depends on the considerations of the Asset Owner or Asset Manager, such as the available budget
As for the terminology used in this document to differentiate between these three categories, verbs such as “should” indicate minimum requirements, unless specified explicitly otherwise, like in: “should, as a best practice”.
(1) In addition to the O&M Best Practice Guidelines we recommend SolarPower Europe’s Asset Management Best Practice Guidelines, another useful tool to enhance investors’ confidence and improve service quality in the field of solar asset management. This report can also be downloaded from www.solarpowereurope.org.
1.2. How to benefit from this document
This report includes the main considerations for a successful and professional O&M service provision. Although it has not been tailored for each stakeholder, its use is similar for all: understanding the mandatory requirements and the necessity of professional O&M and incorporating the recommendations accordingly into the service package. Any of the directly relevant stakeholders (see chapter 3. of SolarPower Europe’s Lifecycle Quality Guidelines) can benefit from this work, tailor it to their needs without lowering the bar and know what to ask for, offer or expect.
Although the focus is European, most of the content can be used in other regions around the world. The requirements described in the maintenance part apply without changes in regions with conditions similar to Europe and a moderate climate and additional requirements or modifications can easily be made for other regions with unique characteristics. With regards to the operations and technical asset management part, the requirements apply to solar PV assets regardless of their location.
1.3. List of abbreviations
AC ... Alternating current
AM ... Asset Management
AMP ... Annual Maintenance Plan
AMR ... Automatic meter reading
AMS ... Annual Maintenance Schedule
API ... Application Programming Interface
C&I ... Commercial & Industrial
CCD ... Charge-coupled device
CCTV ... Closed Circuit Television
CMMS ... Computerised maintenance management system
COD ... Commercial operation date
CPN ... Cost Priority Number
CSMS ... Cybersecurity management system
CSR ... Corporate Social Responsibility
DC ... Direct current
DMS ... Document management system
DOR ... Division of responsibility
DSCR ... Debt service coverage ratio
DSL ... Digital Subscriber Line
EL ... Electroluminescence
EMS ... Energy Management System
EoL ... End of life
EPC ... Engineering, procurement, construction
EPI ... Energy Performance Index
ERP ... Enterprise Resource Planning System
ESG ... Environmental, Social and Governance
ESS ... Energy Storage System
FAC ... Final acceptance certificate
FIT ... Feed-in tariff
FMEA ... Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
FMECA ... Failure Mode, Effects & Criticality Analysis
FTP ... File Transfer Protocol
GPRS ... General Packet Radio Service
H&S ... Health and safety
HSSE ... Health, safety, security, and environment
HV ... High voltage
IEC ... International Electrotechnical Commission
IGBT ... Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors
IoT ... Internet of Things
IPP ... Independent power producer
IR ... Infrared
IRENA ... International Renewable Energy Agency
KPI ... Key performance indicator
kW ... kilowatt
kWh ... kilowatt-hour
kWp ... kilowatt-peak
LAN ... Local area network
LCOE ... Levelised cost of electricity
LTE-M ... Long Term Evolution, category M1
LPWAN ... Long-power wide-area network
LV ... Low voltage
MAE ... Mean absolute error
MFI ... Magnetic Field Imaging
MIT ... Minimum irradiance threshold
MPPT ... Maximum Power Point Tracking
MTBF ... Mean Time Between Failures
MV ... Medium voltage
MW ... Megawatt
O&M ... Operation and Maintenance
OEM ... Original equipment manufacturer
OS ... Operating system
PAC ... Provisional acceptance certificate
POA ... Plane of array
PPA ... Power purchase agreement
PPE ... Personal protective equipment
PR ... Performance Ratio
PV ... Photovoltaic
RFID ... Radio-frequency identification
RMSE ... Root mean square error
ROI ... Return on investment
RPAS ... Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (drone)
SCADA ... Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
SLA ... Service-level agreement
SPV ... Special purpose vehicle
STC ... Standard Test Conditions (1000 W/m2, 25°C)
TAM ... Technical Asset Management
UPS ... Uninterruptible Power Supply
VPN ... Virtual Private Network