Maintenance: Solar panel maintenance & reliability

High quality maintenance of PV systems includes cleaning the PV panels, safety of the electrical systems, and management of installation location.

Preventive maintenance maximises system output, prevents more expensive failures from occurring, and maximises the life of a PV and energy storage system. Preventive maintenance must be balanced by financial cost to the project. Therefore, the goal is to manage the optimum balance between cost of scheduled maintenance, yield, and cash flow through the life of the system. Preventive maintenance protocols depend on system size, design, complexity, and environment.

Design aspects of storage systems will inform scheduled maintenance cost and benefit analysis. For example, in some systems, it is preferable to build the battery bank in multiple separate strings so that maintenance can be made on a single string without shutting down the full battery and all the storage-tied components. Data granularity also has a bearing on what preventive maintenance is deemed economical. For example, real-time cell-level data have the potential to identify and justify preventive maintenance that may not be visible at the battery string or battery bank level.

As an example of a maintenance schedule, battery replacement may be planned on an 8-year cycle. Battery replacement provides an opportunity to revisit battery type, size, and voltage. Inverter replacement may be on a 10- year cycle and battery management system on a 7-year cycle.