Advanced Automated Monitoring and Analytics to Meet Utility Scale Solar Demands
Traditional models of operating and maintaining electrical generating assets converting fuels such as natural gas, coal or nuclear don’t necessarily work to meet the current and expected financial demands of utility scale solar. Traditional power plant Operations & Maintenance (O&M) models assume a single location with a dedicated operations, maintenance, reliability and performance workforce and a fully stocked parts and materials warehouse. Solar industry leaders are attempting to drive down the cost of Solar O&M to $10/kW/year and that benchmark cannot be supported by the traditional power plant O&M model.
On average, relatively newly commissioned solar assets are losing 10-20% of their potential revenue and even well run plants are leaving 2-5% of optimal performance on the table. What is a better model for utility scale solar O&M? A model that minimizes local field labor and maximizes automation and intelligence. This presentation will describe the use of automation, advanced monitoring and analytics tools and new business models that can drastically reduce O&M costs while optimizing business performance.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- How to apply advanced real-time monitoring and analytics technologies to the business problem
- How managers and technical personnel alike can identify the difference between expected and optimal plant performance, where performance shortfalls are occurring in their facilities and how to recover them
- How automated fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) technology (the ability to identify operating anomalies and route work assignments for diagnosis and resolution) can be performed using commercially off the shelf software
- About new business models that have evolved to provide advanced monitoring and analytics as a service – combining the advanced technology tools with solar subject matter expertise