Solar Plant Performance Monitoring Firstgreen Workshop Series : 25 th June 2014 Firstgreen Consulting Pvt Ltd. U 28A/3 FF DLF PH III Gurgaon India - 122002 +91-124-4063031 +919899295854 www.firstgreen.co 2013 Firstgreen Consulting
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Understanding Solar Plant Architecture
Solar PV Plant Architecture 4
Solar PV Plant Architecture 5
Solar PV Plant Architecture 6
Solar PV Plant Architecture The spread of solar plant is in various kilometers and monitoring is critical A failed string may remain un noticed for several months 7
Are PV Plants Maintenance free? Contrary to popular belief, PV power plants are not maintenance free; they require a regimen of continual monitoring, periodic inspection, scheduled preventive maintenance, and service calls. 8
Are PV Plants Maintenance free? Contrary to popular belief, PV power plants are not maintenance free; they require a regimen of continual monitoring, periodic inspection, scheduled preventive maintenance, and service calls. 9
Are PV Plants Maintenance free? While we are in the planning phase, great care is taken in equipment selection and system design aspects, however the issues related to O&M are generally overlooked which cause lot of problems during the day to day operation of your solar plant 10
PV O&M s Basic Elements and Strategies Condition Based Maintenance Preventive Maintenance Reactive Maintenance 11
PV O&M s Basic Elements and Strategies Reactive Maintenance Reactive Maintenance On Site Monitoring Critical Reactive Repair* Non-Critical Reactive Repair Warranty Enforcement Variable As Needed (High Priority) As Needed As Needed 12
PV O&M s Basic Elements and Strategies Preventive Maintenance Preventive Maintenance Panel Cleaning Vegetation Management Water Drainage Retro-Commissioning Upkeep of Data Acquisition and Monitoring Systems (e.g., Electronics, Sensors) Upkeep of Power Generation System (e.g., Inverter Servicing, BOS Inspection, etc) 1-2x Times/Year 1-3 Times/Year Variable 1 Time/Year Undetermined 1-2x Times/Year 13
PV O&M s Basic Elements and Strategies Condition Based Maintenance Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) Active Monitoring Remote and On-Site Options Warranty Enforcement (Planned and Unplanned) Equipment Replacement (Planned and Unplanned) Continuous As Needed As Needed 14
Inhouse O&M versus third party O&M Utility In-House O&M Pros Better Visibility on Personnel/ Equipment Issues Improved Quality Control Ability to Leverage Existing Utility Assets Workforce Training Turnkey/Third-Party O&M Lower Upfront Costs, Greater Flexibility Lower Upfront Risk Less Drain on Utility Labor Force Transitional O&M Option (3rd Party Trains and Hands O&M Responsibility to Utility in Negotiated Timeframe) Institutionalization of PV O&M Process Cons Higher Upfront Costs (Adding Payroll can Bring Long Term Financial Concerns) Increased Risk Work Force Knowledge/Resource Ramp Up Less Control/Understanding of O&M Process Potential for Higher Back-End Costs (Based upon Equipment Selection and Level of Service) Dependence on Outsourced Contractors 15
Solar PV Plant Maintenance Cost breakdown 16
80/20 Rule: 80% of Unrealized Production Due to 20% of Total Outage Events 17
80/20 Rule: 80% of Unrealized Production Due to 20% of Total Outage Events 18
Panel Washing and Site Upkeep: Highly Context Specific Panel washing can improve efficiencies by as much as 10-15% The cost effectiveness of panel washing can be tied to the amount of dust, dirt, pollen and/or pollution in the site environment; the frequency PV panel performance can annually degrade by 1-5% without washing. (Meanwhile, panel efficiency itself generally degrades roughly 0.75% per year.) 19
Monitoring: Multiple Options for Information Collection Grid meter Inverter Panel washing can improve efficiencies by as much as 10-15% Array Monitoring String Monitoring PV Panel Monitoring The value of increased system output and reduced downtime needs to exceed the associated costs of advanced monitoring and data analysis competence. 20
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Focus on Design Engineering Focus on Design engineering and initial built of the plant Perhaps the most important aspect of keeping O&M to a minimum, the initial plant design, construction, and commissioning procedure can set the tone for maintaining a plant s overall health and performance. 21
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Institute Third Party Inspection Third party inspection can ensure that all trade and craftwork is of optimal quality and, in turn, reduce the probability of unplanned O&M issues. 22
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Institute Continuous Commissioni ng Annual commissioning over the lifetime of a system should be the baseline, while testing panels can guarantee that they live up to warranty.. 23
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Conduct PM work either early in the morning or later in the evening Annual commissioning over the lifetime of a system should be the baseline, while testing panels can guarantee that they live up to warranty.. 24
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Perform Annual Plant Performance Audits Relying exclusively on remote monitoring can miss potential problems such as broken panels and increase the risks of fire or shorts. Specific tasks, such as shooting combiner boxes and inverters with an infrared (IR) gun and torqueing DC connections in the combiner boxes can mitigate some basic issues. 25
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Schedule your O&M Scheduling multiple O&M tasks can improve the cost benefit and frequency of performing O&M 26
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Consider transitioning outsourced O&M to inhouse Transitioning O&M capability after one year of training can help bring utilities up to speed on optimal strategies and management. It, however, remains to be definitively determined whether in-house or outsourced O&M is more cost effective. 27
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Hire qualified third party O&M providers Trust and familiarity with personnel can lead to greater efficiency and avoid budgetary overruns. 28
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Provide adequate workforce training A basic overview of PV, DC safety protocol, and other safety-related issues should be included in the training. 29
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Maintain Historical Data Historical data can lead to enhanced diagnostics and troubleshooting capability as well as O&M budgeting, planning, and scheduling. 1.20 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 0.00 Actual PR Vs Calculated PR Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Actual PR 30
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Perform simple site analytics once per month Analyse monthly performance ratios, etc. Assess expected versus actual insolation Estimate the specific yield on daily basis 31
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Purchase quality monitoring equipment Using the cheapest monitoring equipment can lead to frequent communications failure and end up being more expensive in the long run given repair costs. 32
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Buy spares of all equipment Having a stockpile of panels and/or inverters ensures equipment will be available to replace models that are no longer on the market. 33
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Standardize on equipment and monitoring platform Standardization can reduce the risk of part support and improve understanding around part failure 34
Solar Plant Monitoring Best Practices Track inverter warranty developments Inverters are the most failure-prone PV component and a 20-year lifespan can be optimistic; though terms are improving, extension to beyond 5-10 years can be cost prohibitive. Many expect panel and inverter warranties to get better and longer over the next five years. 35
Questions? Thank You First Green Consulting Private Limited U-28A/3 FF, White Town House DLF Ph III Gurgaon, Haryana 122002, India Tel.: (+91) 124 4063031, 9899295854 Fax: (+91) 124 424 1751 sanjay@firstgreen.co www.firstgreen.co