The increasing adoption of PV systems in different climate zones and conditions worldwide has indicated that stress factors such as temperature, humidity, exposure to UV light, rain, and wind could contribute to the occurrence of module failures. Knowing this fact, operation & maintenance (O&M) operators have looked to customize O&M services to the climate zone where particular plants are located.
At present, comprehensive guidelines for climate-specific O&M programs have yet to be developed. With this gap in mind, this report aims to provide comprehensive guidance for customized O&M service in seven different climate zones. The first four are for conditions which broadly prevail in large parts of the world (moderate, hot and dry, hot and humid, desert at high elevation), while the latter three are for extreme conditions (flood-prone regions, cyclonic regions, snowy regions). These guidelines can assist PV plant engineers and de-signers, financing parties, and investors in designing and maintaining PV plants, as well as in determining operational risk related to investment decisions.
The report presents these guidelines according to the following topics: O&M performance indicators and standard O&M operator services, guidelines for monitoring, forecasting, and analysis of PV plant performance and safety, the different types of maintenance services and advanced inspections, and finally the recommendations for climate-specific O&M along with field experiences encountered that affected reliability, performance and safety.
