Generate to accumulate: Keeping your Solar PV System profitable

AF’s Energy Management team are working on a number of new initiatives to help members understand and improve their energy usage. AF are delighted to introduce a new service for members with Solar PV systems to benefit from.

Solar PV monitoring and maintenance is vital in ensuring that systems are working as productively as possible. It also ensures that systems are generating energy and revenue as expected.

AF now work with an award-winning supplier with experienced engineers that have access to state-of-the-art measurement and communication equipment. This enables them to check the IV curve of the panels, in addition to carrying out insulation resistance tests.

This is an issue a lot of sites experience at this time of year that often goes unnoticed. But it’s important to investigate the issue and rectify it - the moisture can break PVC on the cable or connector, making it inefficient. Other long-term problems that arise from this is pressure being put on cables when producing energy in the summer, which can cause fires.

Solar PV has been a very popular form of energy and revenue generation, but many have stopped performing as they should. Some may be operating at 90%, 70% or even 50% - levels that are costing business owners large amounts of money but go unnoticed as they are still getting a return.

We’ve had an increasing volume of calls from owners wanting a health check to ensure they are maximising their returns from their investment. The supplier can diagnose and solve problems the owner may not have been aware of. They are also able to highlight issues that may become detrimental to the installation’s efficiency in the future.

Once we have your system back up to speed, we can ensure there is never a problem again and that your system is generating the energy and revenue that you expected.