reliability

Digitalisation offers PV plant operators the opportunity to shift from preventive to predictive maintenance practices. Eduardo Sarquis reports on research aimed at shedding further light on the system performance benefits of moving to a predictive O&M strategy.

Despite the importance of reliability to the cost competitiveness of PV, large data sets enabling high-level investigation of the technology’s performance in the field are relatively scarce. Dirk C. Jordan, Chris Deline, Bill Marion and Teresa Barnes of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Mark Bolinger of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study a unique data set of 100,000 PV systems in the US, drawing out tips for better reliability that have relevance to other parts of the world.

Materials giant is sticking to its rigorous testing, including use of its ‘Tedlar time machine’, and gearing up for a period of greater solar tech diversity.

Contracts for Enel and Emgesa to supply Andean state between 2022 and 2023 mark PV’s first victories at tender designed to mitigate effects of droughts.