As an EPC with a global presence, one of the most important activities of the operation and maintenance team is what is known as revamping or replacement of existing equipment. This mainly addresses inverters and modules, but it can also affect other equipment such as monitoring, communication or surveillance systems and weather stations.
There may be cases of equipment that has become obsolete, beyond repair or with no spare parts; equipment that has reached the end of its useful life or is more costly to repair than the integration of new equipment. As in the case of inverters, there is a wide variety available at a very competitive price, making the purchase of new ones more economical then repairing the old ones.
In most cases, revamping is limited to corrective actions, meaning, it is used when breakdowns or failures occur in the installed equipment. With revamping we achieve:
– The replacement of that equipment.
– The improvement of the installations, since the new equipment installed tends to have a higher performance and efficiency, better availability, as well as better monitoring and control of the installations.
When revamping, it is essential to maintain the same power authorised by the different bodies at the start of the photovoltaic plant. In the case of the modules, as the new units have a higher power, the solution involves restructuring the strings to adapt the modules to the previous ones, thus reducing the amount so as not to exceed the original power.
In short, revamping is an action that is not only necessary, but in many cases essential to maintain the contracted performance and productivity indices, while ensuring their estimated useful life.
