Improve yield and reduce costs and risks of large-scale PV power plants

Subjects that will be treated:

Yield reduction causes and the influence on the plant business case.
There are a number of different technical issues that can cause underperformance in PV plants. These are, amongst others, PID, LeTID, hot spots, soiling, tracker misalignment, etc…
Some of these causes are at module level, some are at inverter or system level. This introduction will allow you to distinguish and recognize them.
PID is one of underestimated causes for underperformance. When present, it can reduce module output by up to 80% of its initial capacity, but if detected in time, its possible to cure the module and recover the full module performance.
Soiling is another underestimated effect, that can either affects yield (if underestimated) or your operational margin (if overestimated).

• How to prioritize and what can be done?
• What is urgent and what is the right course of action?
• Can I take a wrong decision and make it worse?

Detection/quantification techniques
In this part of the course we will present the different techniques and tools that can be used to detect underperformances and to identify their root cause. Each technique is useful, but they are all complementary and need to be used as such. Depending on the issue at hand, a different approach might make sense to take the economically most optimised approach and not waste time and resources.

• IV-curve tracing
• IR inspection
• SCADA data analytics tools
• New technologies under development, eg. Day-time EL, Laser-induced EL

Possible tools
At different stages in a plant life, different tools and processes are recommended. We therefore make a difference between plants under development, where design decision can impact the CAPEX and the OPEX, and plants already in operation, where one will focus on the optimisation of the operational margin and securing that BP/investor expectations are met.

• To recover yield losses in existing plants
• To improve yield in new developments

Safety of PV plant O&M
Running a generation plant always comes with risks. In order to pro-actively manage them and reduce exposure to risk, whether for the asset or the operators, it is important to identify all possible risks.
In this section we will look at both and give an approach to how certain risks can be mitigated by design, procedures and adequate protection equipment.

• Asset safety
• Operator and technical personnel H&S