Conergy Asia & ME Pte Ltd. has ramped up its operations and maintenance (O&M) services unit in the region to help solar farms in the Philippines raise their profits as it observed waning productivity among operators in Southeast Asia.
Conergy invested in building an Asia-Pacific monitoring center in Manila, upgraded the software used for round-the-clock monitoring of solar farm performance, and bolstered the workforce in O&M units serving the Philippines and the region.
The Singapore-based firm said its O&M unit could now specialize in helping operators of existing solar farms maximize every kilowatt of energy potential from solar farm investments.
According to Conergy, common flaws in solar farm operations included a lack of real time data analytics, slow repair times and unavailability of spare parts.
Solar farms are also beset by insufficiently skilled technicians, thus the delays in proper identification and troubleshooting of plant faults, overgrown vegetation and panels that are too soiled to maximize exposure.
Conergy cited as an example a solar farm that has the potential to generate 100,000 kilowatt hours (kwh) per year. This target can even be achieved in its first year.
As operational issues arise, yearly output could fall to 60,000 kwh in the second year and would continue downward if the problems were not properly addressed.
“We know that this type of scenario is common within the solar industry in the Philippines and Southeast Asia and can be fixed with a proactive approach,” said Conergy vice president Steffen Hesche in a statement.
“We all agree that solar farm operators are doing the right thing for the environment and for their countries,” Hesche said. “Now we just need to ensure these solar investments are producing as much clean energy as possible, operating at full capacity all year long and giving investors a good return.”
Conergy said that, in some cases, application of the firm’s solutions has raised the yearly revenue of a solar farm by at least P230,000 per megawatt of installed generating capacity.