The Importance of Preventive Maintenance in Solar Energy Systems
preventive maintenance; Periodic inspection of a complicated equipment assembly while it is in operation, and regular and planned maintenance in order to protect equipment and installations. Preventive maintenance is carried out in order to reduce and prevent possible malfunctions.

One of the most important operation-maintenance activities in solar power plants is preventive maintenance. These preventive maintenance activities should be done both visually and physically. In addition, it covers control and verification activities within the scope of the instructions specified in the assembly and user manuals received from the manufacturer. These activities should comply with national standards and regulations. Periodic maintenance related to high voltage such as transformer, switchgear and mains connection lines must be carried out strictly in accordance with the legislation. All maintenance (monthly, quarterly, 6-monthly, annually) must be recorded.

Advantages of Preventive Maintenance;
-Provides equipment reliability.
-It allows the equipment and the system to work efficiently and for a long time.
-Minimizes unplanned failure occurrences.
-It helps to repair minor equipment malfunctions that may be encountered during maintenance, without costing the business too much.

   

Field-Wide Procedures for Preventive Maintenance;
-Dust on the panels, bird droppings, leaves, etc. It should be checked whether there are cases that will pollute the panels and cut the contact of the panels with the sun. Such situations adversely affect production and yield.
-Corrosion control should be done. (For metal sections)
-The strength of the carrier system and construction system should be checked. The strength of the panel holders should also be checked.
-Safety equipment should be checked. (Fire extinguisher tube, health bag, etc.)

Maintenance to be done in inverters (power converters); System integrity check of inverters should be done, document control should be done, software version control should be done, fan and filter cleaning of inverters should be done. Label, marking and protection warning signs on the inverter should be checked. Surge protection test should be done and functional check of fuses should be done. In addition, inverter parameter control should be done.

All cables (AC-DC) must be checked for integrity, label and marking must be checked, and connections must be thermographically checked. Maintenance to be done on solar panels; integrity check is done, junction boxes are checked, thermal check is done and power-output test is done. Maintenance to be done in meter control; integrity and cleanliness checks are made, label and marking checks are made, modem and so on. control of communication devices such as, value and parameter control is done.

Maintenance to be done in AC panels; The integrity of the panels is checked, the panel document check is made, the visual and functional tests of the protection equipment are made, the integrity of the cables is checked, the label-marking-fuse check is made, the tightness of the panel connections is checked and the panel lock is checked. High voltage transformers, cells, MV cables, power transmission line and all other equipment should be checked and maintained within the scope of legislation.