operations and maintenance

The speed at which Europe’s PV buildout has taken place over the last few decades is creating challenges for the solar industry around utility-scale O&M, as attendees of pv magazine’s Week Europe virtual conference session on leveraging technology for O&M heard.

The PV industry is embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) techniques to automate operations and maintenance (O&M) diagnostics and predictive analytics in PV systems. More transparency and standard definitions are needed, however, as US-based Sandia Labs scientists Joshua Stein and Marios Theristis explain.

Exxaro Resources wants to generate clean electricity for its Grootegeluk site in Limpopo province and has opened a tender for the EPC and operations contract.

If the three record-busting low solar price tariffs recorded in the Middle East in the past 18 months are to be believed, renewables-powered hydrogen in prime sites in the region could already compete with gas-plus-CCS production, according to IRENA. Has the Gulf discovered the new petrol?

The Amsterdam-based, Australia and central Europe-facing developer saw sales slump thanks to Covid-19 last year but has touted a growing operational project portfolio.

A new report published by the European Technology and Innovation Platform outlines the need for continuing research into the reliability of PV systems and components, and for the collection and sharing of performance data. The report recommends a holistic approach to reliability, going beyond current testing standards to identify new degradation mechanisms, and making use of sensors and drone imaging to monitor systems in the field to prevent and report on system failures.

A Spanish start-up has developed a system which offers automated fault detection in solar panels at any scale.

Amid the current disruption impacting renewable energy markets worldwide, solar power is proving to be a robust energy source. In China earlier this year, solar was the only form of energy generation that saw an increase in production from the previous year – rising by 12%. In this context, it’s becoming more important now than ever before for solar asset owners to recognize and take advantage of specialized solar software which can help mitigate business disruption in unexpected events and optimize long-term returns.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory examined five-year data to observe the most common system failure points and how to prevent them. Researchers considered residential, commercial and utility scale plants and found interesting results. While failures cannot be avoided completely, a key takeaway was that close monitoring and timely repair can effectively mitigate the financial effects of failures.

Innoenergy’s recent conference in Berlin repeated the argument financing renewable energy projects in Africa remains a struggle, however it also showcased some hopeful case studies.