Operation & Maintenance Best Practices Guidelines (Version 6.0)

It is of critical importance that all O&M personnel have the relevant qualifications to perform works in a safe, responsible, and accountable manner. It is difficult to define exactly the suitable employee profile to carry out the work but, in general, it is not advisable to be rigid in the necessary requirements. The necessary knowledge and experience can be gained through different career paths. 

Generally, starting off with the philosophy that the personnel qualification can be best defined when all relevant standard operating processes are defined. This will enable the definition of the tasks that need to be fulfilled, and in the context with the company strategy, also the number of staff can be derived. From this baseline, it is best practice to write a job specification sheet for each project. The job specification usually contains the following chapters that can be as well used as a document that can be sent to potential job applicants:

1. Brief description of the company

2. The role, including

     a. The organisational structure (immediate job environment = reporting line towards the next level up and down as well as team members on the same level, not the entire structure)

     b. Main objectives and responsibilities

3. Starting date

4. Remuneration and benefits

5. The ideal profile

6. The ideal experience

7. Work environment, safety, security, environmental

Providing such a structured preparation enables any candidates as well as the company to manage expectations. For part 4, the description can be somewhat openly phrased towards a potential candidate, however, for internal purposes, it is important to establish a pay-scale that is competitive on the one side, however, also fits within the available budget as well as with the internal pay-structure. It is not uncommon for some positions to be filled to have a candidate sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to providing a detailed job description as outlined above.

The solar industry benefits from a wide range of skills and experience. Team members with a range of electrical, mechanical, financial, business and communications skills are required to handle different tasks and all of them strengthen the positive impact of the service being provided.

As the solar industry scales up globally, it follows that skills training will also need to be scaled up to meet the demand for qualified labour. It is therefore incumbent on all employers in the industry to create a training scheme both internally and externally which creates opportunities for qualifications and development. Whilst it is inevitable that some staff will choose to leave, it is unrealistic to imagine that any company can always employ readily skilled and qualified staff.

Proper standard (general and job specific) training material is a crucial asset, plus establishing a learning success control measure.Qualification can be sourced internally or externally. Whatever the case may be, the learning objectives, content, to be achieved skill set etc. should be clearly expressed in a specification sheet for each job. The sum of all these training specifications results in a training matrix. The creation and the maintenance of a training matrix as in Annex B as well as employee specific qualification certifications should be stored and retrievable in the personnel records. The training matrix enables a company to record skills, both formal and informal, to identify gaps and to provide training to fill the gaps. The personnel record also indicates for which tasks an employee can be dispatched (e. g. a “floater” being able to fulfil several tasks).

Whether an employee needs a certain training or not depends on their personal skill set. In some cases, it might be helpful to test the skillset to find out whether or not a training is necessary. That said, an important aspect of training programmes is also team building in the case of a team training program.

As the industry grows, there is a rapid rate of technological change as well as emergent best practices, which require a programme of continuous personal development to which both individuals and companies need to be committed.

The matrix goes beyond any educational background and focuses on the skills required universally by O&M service providers. Therefore, many of the skills/requirements may need to be adjustable to fit different practices and regulations across Europe.