Operation & Maintenance Best Practice Guidelines / SolarPower Europe - 2025

ID 23153 | 24.02.2025

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) has become a standalone segment within the solar industry, and it is widely acknowledged by all stakeholders that high-quality O&M services mitigate potential risks, improve the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) prices, and positively impact the return on investment (ROI). Responding to the discrepancies that exist in today’s solar O&M market, the SolarPower Europe O&M Best Practice Guidelines make it possible for all to benefit from the experience of leading experts in the sector and increase the level of quality and consistency in O&M. These Guidelines are meant for O&M service providers as well as investors, financiers, asset owners, asset managers, monitoring tool providers, technical consultants, and all interested stakeholders in Europe and beyond.

This document begins by contextualising O&M, explaining the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders such as operations service providers, asset managers, and maintenance providers, and by presenting an overview of technical and contractual terms to achieve a common understanding of the subject. It then outlines the different components of O&M, classifying requirements into minimum requirements, best practices and recommendations.

Environment, Health & Safety Environmental problems are normally avoidable through proper plant design and maintenance, but where issues do occur, the O&M service provider must detect them and respond promptly. Environmental compliance may be triggered by components of the PV system itself, such as components that include hazardous materials and by-products that may be used by the O&M service provider such as herbicides and insecticides.

In many situations, solar plants offer offer biodiversity opportunities for agriculture, and are a valuable natural habitat for plants and animals alongside the primary purpose of power production. However, solar plants are electricity generating power stations and have significant hazards present which can resultin injury or death. Risks should be reduced through proper hazard identification, careful planning of works, briefings of procedures to be followed, documented and regular inspection, and maintenance. Personnel training and certification and personal protective equipment are required for several tasks. Almost all jobs have some safety requirements such as fall protection for work at heights and electrical arc-flash, lock-out tag-out, and general electrical safety for electrical work, eye, and ear protection for ground maintenance.

Personnel & training

It is important that all O&M personnel have the relevant experience and qualifications to perform the work in a safe, responsible, and accountable manner. These Guidelines contain a skills’ matrix template that helps to record skills and identify gaps.

Fonte: Solarpower Europe

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	Descrizione	Livello	Dimensione	Downloads
	Operation Maintenance EU solar - Best Practice Guidelines Version 6.0.pdf SolarPower Europe - 2025	Abbonati Impianti	13367 kB	2