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首页>Proper Operation and Maintenance Maximizes PV System’s Margin: An Interview with EnergyGuard
Proper Operation and Maintenance MaximizesPV System’s Margin: An Interview with EnergyGuardBy rheatsaoCreated 20150408 13:3120150408 13:31 — rheatsao
Dependable operation is essential to the profitability of a PV system. When a PV system is muddied ordamaged, its return on investment (ROI) rate would be cut down by either lower power output orequipment replacement. Therefore, best approach to maintain a stable power output is to haveprofessional management of the PV system and regular checks on the system’s health. These operationand maintenance (O&M) services are exactly what Energy Guard offers to its customers.
Energy Guard’s A.V.P. Justin Lan and Director Chamber Pan gave EnergyTrend a comprehensive lookof the company’s O&M services in an exclusive interview. “Clients need to know all the possibleirregularities that could happen during the operation of their PV plants,” Lan said, “and propermaintenance is crucial to having longterm and stable power generation.”
Prevention is better than cure: O&M services keep PV systems healthy
A PV power plant’s value is determined by its operation reliably. Normally, EPC suppliers offer alimited warranty for their PV systems. After the warranty period, PV plant owners would turn to O&Mservice providers to ensure their plants maintain stable power output and high ROI rates during their 20year operation span.
O&M services can be regarded as the “health checkups” for PV systems and they encompass monitoring,cleaning, and repairing. O&M services discover problems that may arise and fix them early on.“Preventive maintenance is the key concept behind O&M services,” said Pan, “since it costs a lot more intime and money to repair a PV system after something has gone wrong.” In early April, Energy Guardwill host a workshop in Taiwan’s Kaoshiung City to raise PV system owners’ awareness of the necessityof O&M services.
According to Lan, Engergy Guard’s main customers are local mid and largescale PV power plantsranging from 100kW to MWsize. “These plants are owned by large companies and pay greater attentionto the quality of O&M,” Lan noted. “Energy Guard has the strong foundation and the sufficient capital toprovide these professional services.”
In the interview, Lan specifically pointed to how electronic equipment such as inverter is important to theoperation of a PV system. In addition to cleaning PV modules, Energy Guard O&M services includechecking and cleaning DC combiner boxes; an inspection of the AC or distribution end; and aninspection of highvoltage equipment. Energy Guard thus covers all aspects of monitoring andmaintenance.
PV power plants in Taiwan usually do not go beyond 10MW in scale, so this raises question of whetherthey are simpler to maintain and operate. Pan said the reality is exactly the opposite. He explained sincethe island is small and densely populated, Taiwan’s installation locations are very diverse – fromskyscrapers’ rooftops, coastal areas, and to agricultural facilities like pig farms and green houses. Thus,the maintenance needs of PV systems on the island vary greatly. For examples, PV systems on farmbuildings are exposed to hydrogen sulfide (that is corrosive) and also susceptible to rat infestations;whereas those installed along the coast are threatened by salt sprays. Every kind of PV systems requires aspecific and comprehensive service plan in order to achieve the best profit.
Monitoring is the eye of O&M
Energy Guard recognizes that an effective monitoring system is the foundation of a professional O&Mplan. Besides onsite inspections by engineers, Energy Guard also monitors its client PV installationsthrough a cloudbased monitoring system, which has three main features:
1. The monitor program is internally developed by the company, which has the best understanding ofthe system and is able to customize it per clients’ requests or the state of the power plant.
2. The monitoring program is priced competitively for plants ranged from 500kW to MWscale.
3. It is completely on the Cloud. Instead of spending resources on maintaining its own servers, EnergyGuard rents storage and platform from reputable cloud service enterprises such as Microsoft andGoogle. The collected data are well encrypted and can be later used to adjust and balance powerdistribution from regional grids.
Energy Guard’s monitor system collects data from inverters and stores them in a temporary data collectorbefore uploading them to the cloud (inverter →data collector →cloud). The data collector lets engineersview information offline, so they can immediately diagnose and fix problems onsite. More importantly,Energy Guard’s proprietary monitor system is compatible with all brands of inverters that are on themarket. Other O&M providers do not have this advantage.
Energy Guard lets clients choose to either get just the monitoring service or the monitoring plusmanagement package. The first plan allows clients to monitor their power plants via cloud, and if theyneed O&M services they can contact Energy Guard. The second plan lets Energy Guard watch andmanage the power plants on behalf of their clients. Management entails engineers actively checking thestate of power plants provide cleaning and maintenance when needed. Pan recommends clients choosethe second plan. “As Energy Guard’s O&M services involve conducting routine inspections andproviding review reports,” Pan explained, “it is even more time and costeffective if our engineers arealready authorized by clients to manage their plants.”
When it comes to O&M, Energy Guard has the right tools to get the job done. In addition to infraredthermography, ohmmeter, and power quality analyzer, Lan stated that the company is planning to procuremore testing instruments. Moreover, Energy Guard’s professional and experienced engineers can identifypotential troubles and immediately provide solutions to optimize a plant’s power generation.
A leader in Taiwan’s O&M services in capital and technology
Cleaning is another important part of O&M services for PV systems. Besides having a qualified cleaningteam with proper tools, Energy Guard is presently assessing the possibility of procuring robots for
cleaning PV modules.
“Energy Guard has the capital to get more advanced equipment and we have made this kind ofinvestments very early on,” said Lan. “Also with an excellent team of engineers, our company aims tobecome the pioneering brand in Taiwan’s O&M services.”
Lan added, “Through the workshop we have organized, we wish to remind people of the necessity ofprofessional O&M services to a PV power plant. For plant owners, adequate investment in O&Mservices is costeffective in the long run since maintenance reduces the chances of stops in operation andrelated losses in ROI rates.”
Looking forward to the future, Energy Guard’s main goal for short and mediumterm is to develop localservices in Taiwan. According to Taiwan Power Company’s statistics, PV installation on the entire islandwill reach 600MW by the end of 2015. Energy Guard projects to secure O&M contracts for about 60MWequivalent of PV systems. Moreover, the company will introduce its complete O&M service package toits clients whose inverters are no longer under warranty. In sum, Energy Guard’s initial target for O&Mmarket share gain is 20%, or around 120MW.
At the same time, Energy Guard will also continue to develop and improve its software and hardware.Pan revealed that the company is currently doing R&D on synchronizing data between cloud andmobiles. This program would help the engineering team to have instant communication among teammembers and allows for rapid response during maintenance and management operation. These activitiesshow that Energy Guard is always preparing for the future and reflects the company’s attitude of strivingfor excellence.
相关关键词:InterviewEnergy GuardTaiwan
operations and maintenance (O&M) servicesO&MPV Systems
