To maximize the energy production of any solar power plant along its lifetime and to make an efficient use of its configuration, equipment and technology it is essential to have an efficient process of operations and maintenance (O&M). These services mitigate potential risk and bring down the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), thus, positively impacts the return on investment (ROI).

Any failure in the PV system can have great loss consequences for the power plant and on ROI but equally or more important than how often that occurs is how quickly the problem can be solved. O&M personnel need effective strategies for identifying and correcting problems in a smart and efficient way.

As solar PV power plants become older, O&M becomes increasingly important for improving or keeping the performance ratio (PR) of the plant. New technologies are coming their way to make O&M smarter and focus on preventive and predictive maintenance. This is the natural evolution of the industry.

So in this Forum, we will present the Innovator Landscape for this space by comparing different vendors in a Framework from which one vendor will be selected to present their solution - supported by a utility that has deployed the solution for real-life insight and validation of the technology. That vendor will be Aerospec Technologies, who have developed a cloud-based data analytics platform for solar asset owners and operators that makes aerial inspection easier, faster, and more cost effective.