Proper maintenance of installations ensures their proper functioning and can extend the life of the equipment
Any energy installation must be subject to proper maintenance in order to achieve full performance during its useful life. The maintenance of photovoltaic systems encompasses all operations aimed at ensuring the highest possible productivity of the installation throughout its useful life, so as to minimise downtime due to breakdowns or malfunctions and the costs associated with such problems.
In this respect, there are two types of maintenance:
It consists of preventing possible failures before they occur. Carrying out regular checks of the installations makes it possible to detect repetitive failures, increase the useful life of the equipment, reduce the cost of repairs and act on the weak points in the installation.
Some preventive maintenance actions are:
- Remote monitoring of the plant via an online platform. In this way, malfunctions and anomalies can be detected.
- Visual inspection of the panels (for any external defects such as bumps, cracks, bulges, darkening, water bubbles, etc.) and of the external appearance of the wiring, connections, terminals, etc. (detect any breakage or chafing).
- Checking the tightness of the panel connectors, junction boxes, etc.
- Retightening of screws and nuts and connections: these elements loosen over time. It is important that they are tightened to avoid problems with the support structures of the panels and electrical problems due to bad connections at terminals and terminals.
- Thermographic analysis: with the help of a thermal imaging camera, hot spots and other defects or problems in the PV panels and their connections can be detected.
- Review of the electrical part: review of the state of the protections, connections, electrical panels, etc.; verification of current, voltage and power values; search for possible electrical faults.
It consists of troubleshooting as soon as problems arise. It is the maintenance that is carried out after the existence of a failure, in order to correct malfunctions. This type of maintenance is necessary when the cause of the problem is impossible to predict or prevent. It usually involves carrying out repair operations and equipment replacement.
- Diagnosis to determine the cause of the failure: it is important to determine what caused the problem, in order to take appropriate action, and thus prevent the same failure from occurring again.
- Repair and replacement of equipment.
This maintenance strategy alone can be cost-effective in the short term. However, the lack of preventive maintenance can lead to unexpected failures, with the resulting downtime and economic costs.
Cleanliness
Over time, due to inclement weather, dust in suspension in the environment, etc., solar panels accumulate a layer of dirt on their surface. This dirt considerably reduces the efficiency of the panel, and can even create so-called hot spots, which have a negative effect on their useful life. For this reason, we recommend cleaning the panels at least once a year.
Contract with us the maintenance of your installation
- 1
Unlimited remote assistance: solving incidents by telephone or telematically.
- 2
Annual review: review of the low voltage electrical part; review of the mechanical structural part; check of the photovoltaic performance; and review of the inverters, batteries and other main equipment.
- 3
Technical maintenance report detailing the activities carried out, summarising the current state of the installations and presenting, if necessary, the corrective actions to be carried out in order to maintain the maximum level of performance of the installations.
- 4
Corrective maintenance: displacement and labour for the solution of any anomaly or failure detected in the operation of the installations or in the Preventive Maintenance Plan.