For Indian producers of multi-megawatt grid-connected ground-mounted solar photovoltaic power plants, it is crucial to understand that adopting the best Operations and Maintenance (O&M) practices is essential for optimizing energy output. The renewable energy industry in India has matured, and solar PV plants have seen a significant increase in installations over the past decade. These plants have contributed to the country's energy mix, ranging from rooftops, off-grid, to large-scale ground-mounted grid-connected plants. After installation and commissioning, a solar power plant has a life cycle of 25 to 30 years, and the O&M team plays a vital role in maintaining the plant's operating standards and ensuring guaranteed generation output figures. To maintain the quality of activity execution standards, some of the best industrial practices should be followed across installed portfolios. The first step is to identify plant losses at equipment and transmission line levels through careful observation and data-based approaches. Key performance indicators can be used to identify the nature and quantum of loss, and specific test procedures can be adopted for root cause identification and permanent issue resolution. It is crucial to ensure the serial implementation of corrections across plants and record improvements systematically through periodic maintenance activities. Following these procedures, checklists, and guidelines will help the team achieve the target optimum generation of the solar power plant, leading to increased investor confidence, reduced energy crises, sustained energy sources for longer periods, increased employment opportunities, and contributing towards clean green energy development across the country.

This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.

In this paper we present a generic model which evaluates the economic viability of alternative maintenance strategies for differently sized photovoltaic plants with variable components. We thoroughly review the existing literature on reliability, maintenance and maintenance strategies for PV plants. The model is applied to ground-mounted solar PV plants of three different sizes: 1, 10, and 100 MWp. The analysis compares immediate corrective maintenance with maintenance strategies of different periodicity (weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly). Simulations take the driving time of the service team and the operation of a spare parts inventory into account. We further analyze the impact of hourly spot prices in contrast to constant prices (feed-in tariffs). We find that corrective maintenance is the most cost-effective strategy. If the service journey takes six hours instead of one hour, corrective maintenance becomes more expensive than weekly periodic maintenance. For a three-hour journey, the size of the PV plant matters. If corrective maintenance is adopted, the establishing of a spare parts inventory should be considered. When volatile hourly spot prices are considered, we find that opportunity costs are lowest (highest) when service teams operate at 8 pm (8 am), irrespective of the day of the week, whereas maintenance events scheduled for Wednesdays at 8 am or 2 pm are, given current EPEX spot prices, the most cost-effective in terms of total costs.

Drawing on the Asian Development Bank's experience installing the rooftop solar photovoltaic system at its headquarters, the Handbook for Rooftop Solar Development in Asia hopes to demystify the process of developing solar photovoltaic projects in urban areas. The handbook provides detailed descriptions and guidance for all stages of development, including initial prefeasibility assessment, design, financing, procurement, and operations and maintenance. The Asian Development Bank hopes that entities looking to take advantage of the benefits of solar photovoltaic systems would find the development process made transparent and streamlined, and that this handbook would encourage the spread of solar photovoltaic systems in cities throughout developing Asia and the Pacific.

This book illustrates operation and maintenance practices/guidelines for economic generation and managing health of a thermal power generator beyond its regulatory life. The book provides knowledge for professionals managing power station operations, through its unique approach to chemical analysis of water, steam, oil etc. to identify malfunctioning/defects in equipment/systems much before the physical manifestation of the problem. The book also contains a detailed procedure for conducting performance evaluation tests on different equipment, and for analyzing test results for predicting maintenance requirements, which has lent a new dimension to power systems operation and maintenance practices. A number of real life case studies also enrich the book. This book will prove particularly useful to power systems operations professionals in the developing economies, and also to researchers and students involved in studying power systems operations and control.

The Definitive Guide to Large-Scale, Grid-Connected Solar Power System Design and Construction This GreenSource book provides comprehensive engineering design and construction guidelines for large-scale solar power system projects. Proven design methodologies are detailed installation diagrams are included in this practical resource. Large-Scale Solar Power System Design offers complete coverage of solar power system technologies and components, planning, cost estimates, financing, project management, safety, and testing. This authoritative guide fully addresses the complex technical and management issues associated with large-scale, grid-connected solar power system implementations. COVERAGE INCLUDES: Solar power system technologies, including photovoltaic and thin-film solar cells Solar power system physics Photovoltaic power system feasibility study Solar power system costing Solar power system design Large-scale solar power system construction Concentrator photovoltaic systems Solar power system project management Smart-grid systems Solar thermal power Solar power financing and feed-in tariff programs