Manila, November 29, 2017 - Conergy announced today the formation of solutions to help solar farm owners and investors gain improved performance and financial returns through better operations and maintenance of solar farms.
The newly enhanced Conergy Operations and Maintenance Services unit is focused on supporting existing solar farms in the Philippines and the ASEAN region, with improved operations.
The unit specialises in helping solar farm operators maximise every kilowatt of energy potential from solar farm investments. Conergy’s market analysis indicated waning productivity of solar farms in the Philippines and the region.
Common flaws in solar farm operations include a lack of real time data analytics, slow repair times, unavailability of spare parts, insufficient skills of technicians which delays proper identification and troubleshooting of plant faults, overgrown vegetation and panels that are too soiled to maximise exposure.
To address the issue, Conergy invested in building an APAC monitoring center in Manila, upgraded software used to monitor solar farm performance 24/7 and added headcount to the operations and maintenance units serving the Philippines and the region.
“We believe some of the Philippine’s solar farms can perform much better than they do today, so we are making an investment in the operations and maintenance side of our business,” said Conergy CEO Alexander Lenz.
“Solar farms in the Philippines have tremendous potential. But like any asset they need to be cared for. We believe some Philippine farms may be losing thousands of kilowatt hours and millions of pesos per year. This is an issue we can fix in partnership with solar farm operators. And we are fully confident we can help recoup this lost energy and bring investment returns back up to full capacity. Our promise is to fully erase productivity flaws from solar farm investors who work with us.”
These flaws are major issues for solar farm investors.
For example, a solar farm that has the potential to generate 100,000 kilowatt hours per year may achieve this target in the first year, then, as operational issues arise, the kilowatt hours per year could fall to 60,000 in the second year.
If the issues are not properly addressed, efficiency will continue to fall.
“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,” added Steffen Hesche, Conergy VP – Operations & Maintenance.
Conergy tracks performance 24/7 and alerts the Conergy operations and maintenance team when repairs and service are required.
In some cases, the Conergy operations and maintenance service has overachieved the plant’s performance ratio, yielding additional revenues of over 230 thousand pesos per installed megawatt capacity annually.
“We all agree that solar farm operators are doing the right thing for the environment and for their countries,” said Steffen Hesche.
“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. We are very confident that the Conergy operations and maintenance unit will fulfill this need.”
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