Ordinary maintenance of photovoltaic systems: an investment in the long-term performance of the system.

Maintenance of a photovoltaic system is an extremely important activity for the correct functioning of the system over time.

Photovoltaic is a durable system, meaning it has a very long life cycle, on average more than 25 years.

Poor or even absent maintenance can drastically reduce its efficiency.

Atmospheric agents, high and low temperatures, fog, snowfall, acid and/or sand rain, smog and other agents cause a drop in plant production in the order of 0.50% on average per year. Correct maintenance avoids possible drops in the system's production and related economic losses.

The first maintenance begins with the careful reading of the monitoring system, i.e. a daily look at the production must always be given. It could happen that the system stops and requires the manual intervention of an operator to restart it.

Monitoring of one of our systems in Ivrea (832 kW)

 

Only by reading the monitoring system can long periods of plant downtime be avoided.

Today the monitoring systems connected to the latest generation inverters are visible on all devices through very detailed apps to be viewed daily.

Together with the monitoring display, it is always good practice to make reports (at least quarterly) that can trace in a fairly basic way a path and a history of the system's performance.

 

Every year we always plan, both on our systems and on those installed by our customers, at least two preventive routine maintenance interventions which concern all the visual inspection activities of the components and the verification of production through tests.

> Checking and tightening the bolts anchoring the modules to the structure

> Check the integrity of the glass of the solar modules

> Check cables and junction boxes

> Functional tests of the protection switches

> Verification of the system's production based on the instantaneous irradiation

 

Our technicians in action during a maintenance phase

 

It is also important to include an annual cleaning of the panels with simple water and a soft bristle brush, without the use of aggressive detergents which could damage the panels and electrical connections over time. This happens especially when sandy rains occur in the summer months. The sand deposited on the module glass can also cause production losses of more than 15%.

For nominal system powers greater than 11.08 kW, maintenance of the photovoltaic system is mandatory. This is because there is an obligation to control the interface systems between inverters and the connected grid, as per resolution 78/2016 of the Electricity Authority. The interface must be overhauled every 5 years by qualified technicians who must issue a signed form to send to the network manager. In case of failure to control, the network manager can proceed and intervene by disconnecting the photovoltaic system from the national grid.

 

When we at INVECO sign a turnkey contract with a new customer, in our offer we always consider 24 months of free system maintenance, this happens for several reasons.

> Seriousness towards the new customer, as our offers are not "hit and run", on the contrary they tend to build loyalty by trying to offer more interconnected products and services;

> In the first months of life, the system must be managed and set up with the logic of suggesting to the customer how to maximize energy saving;

> Within 24 months, a customer manager must be trained to manage the system;

After 24 months, we offer the customer our "maintenance & service" contract with a duration of 5 years, renewable upon expiry.

The average annual cost of our maintenance work on an industrial system is between €10 and €14 per kW, while the cost of cleaning is generally quoted separately based on the system and the type of industrial roofing.

Anyone interested in the services we can provide as a General Contractor, from energy audits to factory diagnostics, to turnkey installation of rooftop photovoltaic systems, to zero-cost operational leasing in the first years of operation, and to industrial storage systems combined with photovoltaic systems, contact us.

Our technical team is always available to respond to your needs.