Solar PV Plants O&M – A Separate Line of Business

Worldwide as the Solar industry has matured, Solar PV Plants O&M has emerged as a separate line of business within Solar energy services companies. It is fast evolving from a typical EPC companies’ scope after the execution of a Solar project to a dedicated service offered by a dedicated division or a specialized O&M company.

The following activities are envisaged under a typical Solar PV Plant O&M services contract: –

• 3 Ms: – For trouble free operation of the solar power plant, maintenance activities of the Plant include corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance.
• Reports: – Daily, Monthly and Annual reports are necessary to submit covering Plant performance analysis and notifying the deviations in performance along with the corrective measures that have been taken or required to take
• Cleaning of Module: – Periodic cleaning of the modules are conducted. The number cleaning cycle varies contract to contract. In general, 18-24 cycles of cleaning annually is agreed. All tools & tackles required for cleaning form a part of the scope of the O&M Contractor.
• Preventive Maintenance: – Preventive maintenance is done as per the agreed schedule in the contract of the plant components including inverters, LT Panels, structures, modules, HV equipment, Switch yard & transmission line.
• Corrective Maintenance – Corrective action to be initiated considering the nature of defect/ breakdown in discussion with the Client. The response time is very important in this kind of maintenance. The operator needs to resolve the problem as early as possible to avoid any generation loss.
• Predictive Maintenance: – Predictive Maintenance is done to avoid any future defect / breakdown. This include plant diagnostic study or any specific test such as transformer oil BDV test, thermography and IV curve test of Strings and modules, etc.
• Remote monitoring for Condition based Maintenance (CBM)- The remote monitoring of the plant on a daily basis is to be done to assess the plant performance as a whole or a particular plant component.
• Warranty Management – The O&M Contractor maintains the necessary papers and do co-ordination with the vendors / suppliers for warranty replacements / rectifications of defects in inverters, PV modules, cables, electrical and mechanical equipment.
• Spare parts Management – The O&M Contractor shall supply spares or just manage the spares procured by the owner as per the contract requirements.
• All tools, tackles, equipment to carry out the maintenance work, PPE’s & any other safety related equipment’s etc. are provided by the O&M Contractor.
• JMR: The O&M Contractor generally carry out the monthly JMR (Joint meter Reading) and ensure that it shares the same within 1^st / 2^nd day of each month. In some cases, the owner handles this responsibility.
• Data transfer to SLDC : The O&M Contractor coordinates to ensure smooth data transfer to SLDC if agreed as per the contract
• Compliance Documents: – the operator needs to maintain all compliance documents such as wage register, attendance sheet, ESIC, EPF, etc.
• Insurance: the operator needs to maintain the required insurance such as workmen compensation policy, health insurance of the staff, insurance for the equipment & vehicle, etc which the operator owns
• Civil Work: The operator may need to undertake the civil maintenance also as per the contract
• Security services: – The operator may also need to undertake the security of the plant as well as per the contract

Outsourcing the O&M services to a specialized service company has some advantages. The most important reason is the EPC / developer will be able to concentrate to their key areas of work. Also, now-a-days as the size of individual plants are getting big, the specialized skill sets are needed to operate such plants. Besides a specialized agency is expected to do accurate prediction about the plants future behavior and thereby taking care of required precautions through periodic plant diagnostic studies. It is also expected that the outsourced agency has an international perspective in undertaking O&M services like following international best practices, using remote digital platform and also has efficient / certified Solar PV O&M experts.

This post can also be used as a checklist for developing your next Solar PV Plants O&M Contract so that you don’t miss on key points while drafting the contract. We also invite the solar experts to share their thoughts if we have missed some important points here.