New contracts worth more than 12 MWp for complete maintenance of central inverters in Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria were signed in the past weeks. Photon Energy now offers more than 50 MWp of contracted "Inverter Cardio" and delivers vital services and spare parts to a further 100+ MWp across Europe.
Photon Energy's O&M division Photon Energy Operations has added Bulgaria to its portfolio by signing new "Inverter Cardio" contracts, along with new contracts for maintenance in Italy, France and the Czech Republic. "Inverter Cardio" includes a full service, which takes care of central PV inverters, while keeping costs for investors at a minimum.
"Inverter Cardio is based on the idea that a central inverter is the heart of a power plant, and should be treated as carefully as a human heart", explains CEO Georg Hotar. "Our approach is based on keeping costs as low as possible, by using remote support, repairing components instead of fast-cash spare-part-deals, and by applying our revolutionary predictive maintenance service."
Predictive maintenance is an innovative approach to central inverter service and maintenance. "Based on our service interventions database and detailed knowledge of inverters, we can accurately predict mean time before critical components fail", explains Pavel Laurinec, Senior Technical Manager Central Inverters. "Calculations of mean time before failure are used to purchase spare parts for our strategic safety stock and to create tailor-made spare part kits for PV plants," he adds.
Another key element is repairing components. "As a result of unfavorable pricing policies of custom central inverter electronic boards, in 2013 we established an electronic board repair workshop. Our customers can choose from new, used and refurbished electronic boards based on their budget or service strategy," adds Pavel Laurinec, Senior Technical Manager Central Inverters.
