Services

Solar PV Operations and Maintenance

We currently look after a number of utility scale solar farms across the UK. Work with us to optimise your generation and maximise your return on investment.

Over the last 10 years Natural Generation has grown to become one of the leading renewable energy companies in the South West.

Our experience of installing and maintaining solar arrays means we know systems inside out.  To date Natural Generation have installed over 100MW of solar , we don’t walk away once the system is up and running.  We’re committed to providing a full range of operations and maintenance services for all renewable energy systems.

We are proud of our comprehensive O&M service – one that is chosen by customers and investors across the UK. Green energy maintenance is at the heart of what we do.

Our teams in Cornwall, Bristol, Wales and Scotland, currently look after 50+ Solar farms across the UK – we are continually expanding this part of our O&M portfolio.

Work with us to maximise your generation and maximise the return on your investment – you’ll be in safe hands.

O&M solar division

We have a dedicated O&M division who deal exclusively with all aspects of our solar O&M service. The team schedule in the preventative maintenance agreed with clients along with regular maintenance reporting.  Our response times for re-active maintenance are amongst the best in the industry.

We offer re-active call out times from 4 hours.

We offer a 24 hour emergency response line every day of the year and a site optimisation service to ensure your site is running as efficiently as it can. The O&M team also offer.

 

Solar service engineers

Natural Generation’s field engineers are fully trained and certified. They adopt safe systems of work at all times.

With Natural Generation you will benefit from;

Time served electricians Employed directly by us to ensure quality control
In-house HV maintenance and switching To ensure lowest down time possible
Fully equipped O&M vans Meaning each team has the equipment they need on a visit to your site
Direct reporting from site Using Natural Generation’s bespoke reporting app
HSE certificates Ensuring up to date H&S practice

Reactive maintenance

UNSCHEDULED REPAIRS

If something goes wrong and your site goes down we’ll have it back up and running in the shortest time possible.

If we can’t get things back up and running remotely we promise to be with you within 48 hours, (invariably we’ll be there in 12 hours) and have you back in operation as quickly as possible. We do offer call out times from 4 hours depending on your needs.

We have HV appointed personnel.

In-house support

Our in-house O&M support team monitor solar sites from our base in Cornwall. From here they co-ordinate the O&M activity across the UK ensuring the right people, and the right equipment, are in the right place at the right time.

Prioritise site power requirements

Ensure all fault conditions are investigated

Improve all fault conditions as required

communication with client

In the event of a fault occurring, we prioritise your site power requirements and ensure all fault conditions are investigated and corrected before reconnection. All our planned maintenance is agreed with our clients in advance to ensure the least interference with the site. We deal with breakdowns, failure, force majeure or any other unpredictable occurrences by following our standard Operations and Maintenance processes which are constant monitoring, remote fault resolution, site visits and fault resolution according to pre-agreed service level contracts.

The O&M offer includes continual remote monitoring with email and text prompts for any faults. We manage repairs and maintenance within the context of uninterrupted operations for many investor projects.

Proactive remote monitoring We’ll spot any problems and deal with them fast
Close working relationships with key manufacturers and suppliers Meaning fast access to spare parts and back-up
Reporting Monthly & yearly production and availability reporting - all job sheets are dated and timed and contain before and after photographs. 
Health & Safety Full H&S consultancy
Vehicle tracking To ensure we can get the best person to your site as quickly as possible
Communications Regular and accurate communications and updates on open faults
In-house back up From our technical teams and energy advisors

Remote surveillance

We offer remote security monitoring for your site. Using your CCTV and monitoring system we will keep our eye on the site which should stop you needing to call in with a fault – we’ll already be on it.

Reporting

We will provide you with a report after each visit, be it a scheduled visit for proactive maintenance or a reactive visit for a call-out. Reports will include before and after photographs along with field engineer notes on the situation and action taken. Photographs may include aerial and infrared images using our specialist kit.

Any follow up visits or activity will be reported on. Your reports will be emailed as pdfs and kept on your file in our office so we have a complete record of activity for your site.

We do have the facility to allow clients access our CRM system to monitor job progress and access reports if this is the preferred method.

O&M services for solar PV
GUARANTEES
Response time
Availability
Performance ratios
Yield
OPERATIONS
Remote monitoring
Management of tasks and allocation of job numbers
Remote plant control
Site performance reporting
Trend analysis
Time-tabling panel cleaning
MAINTENANCE
Fixed price annual packages
Inspections and maintenance on;
Inverters
Transformers
Medium & high voltage switchgear
Sensors
Structure
Modules
Combiner boxes
Cabling
IV Curve testing
Thermal imaging - ground and aerial by licensed drone
Electroluminesence
Outage and diagnostics on site
Replacement (or repair) of PV kits as required
Replacement (or repair) of MV/HV kit
Site maintenance;
Module cleaning
Grass cutting
Management of shade creeping
Road maintenance
Perimeter fence maintenance
Site security
Site surveillance
ASSET MANAGEMENT
Warranty and insurance support
Health & safety management
ADDITIONAL BACKUP
Plant: commissioning & quality control
including upgrades and retrofits
Monitoring of any upgrades or retrofits
Compliance consulting
Pre warranty inspections

 

 

 

Proactive maintenance

We’re on-call every day of the year, including weekends when we have people on stand-by. Our proactive maintenance packages include regular inspections and annual services.

We offer regular inspections for solar and will work with you to decide the most suitable maintenance programme be it every month, 3, 6 or 12 months.

During inspections we’ll check everything on site including;
  • panels
  • security fence
  • inverters, including a visual inspection of the AC/DC cabling
  • on-site buildings
  • medium and high voltage facilities
  • mounting structures
  • grounds
  • site cleanliness

Annual service plans

Full annual inspections. Each year we’ll send a team of O&M technicians to your solar installation to perform a full service. We’ll check everything and record details of the service in your log book … and we’ll email you a report as soon as we’ve finished on site using our special reporting app. 

 You’ll be able to see before and after pictures along with a summary of the visit. If our team find anything that we think will increase the performance of your solar farm we’ll make recommendations, we’ll always have an eye out for things that might help you maximise generation.

A full service will include (but is not limited to);

The grounds Including your fencing, the grass and checking for any shade creeping in from over hanging vegetation
PV modules All in top working order, clean, undamaged, not in shade, checking all the electrics
Mounting structures All in good condition
Inverters Check for signs of damage, check for vermin in inverter stations and water, ensure the labelling is still good and filters are clean.
Electric boards AC/DC electrical systems
Transformer Working correctly
Spares We’ll run an inventory of spare parts and update you with what else you might need
Medium and high voltage facilities All working correctly
Meteorological station If there’s one on site we’ll check it over
Systems We’ll check the monitoring, CCTV system and data storage
Report We’ll email a report using our bespoke software

Land management plans

Our commitment to protecting the environment has seen us raise staff awareness and incorporate specific measures into the daily operation of our business. Natural Generation has been accredited with the BS8555 environmental standard and performance, something we review regularly.

We ensure all equipment is maintained in good working order and fitted with the appropriate silencers, mufflers or acoustic covers where applicable and the movement of vehicles to and from site is controlled.

We aim to leave sites cleaner than we found them. We take every piece of litter away and dispose of all packaging separately – it’s all recycled and dealt with properly.

We are committed to continual improvement of our environmental performance and in order to do this we will:

Meet and, when possible, exceed all regulatory legislative requirements
Prevent pollution at all times
Set objectives and targets to reduce the impacts
Reduce unnecessary journeys through an effective management system
Seek to operate and maintain our equipment to the highest possible standards
Encourage the implementation of energy conservation measures alongside renewable energy systems
Make this policy available to all our staff, contractors and to the public

How to contact us

If you’d like to talk to us about your O&M give us a call on 01872 571700 alternatively email us at info@naturalgen.co.uk, we’re happy to talk about your site, or sites, with no obligation.

We’re very happy for you to talk to our current customers to get references and reports on our standards of work and if there’s anything else we can help you with please just ask.

Get a no Obligation Quotation