Operations: Solar energy production

Solar plant operations are a complex interplay of monitoring, maintenance, and technological integration aimed at ensuring the efficient and profitable generation of solar energy. PV system operations is a growing field because of increased PV penetration into the larger utility system and an emerging market for ancillary services (e.g., dispatch of storage, sourcing reactive power, curtailment of output) that require more system interaction on an ongoing basis. Plant operations include forecasting output, scheduling maintenance operations, creating a spare parts inventory (either in stock onsite or in supplier’s consignment stock), and inspecting work and approving invoices. Meanwhile, operations include any day-to-day operation of the system to maximize power delivery, assess performance and trends, operate grid interface, manage curtailments, or adjust settings such as power factor.