HelioVolta, a software developer and provider of independent technical advisory and inspection services for solar projects, published the inaugural SolarGrade PV Health Report. It is the first comprehensive analysis of the safety and reliability of distributed generation (DG) solar PV systems using on-the-ground data from operational projects in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
“On-the-ground solar fieldwork generates vital safety and reliability data that cannot be obtained from any other source — not drone or plane flyovers, remote monitoring tools or even inverter error logs,” commented James Nagel, Co-founder of HelioVolta and SolarGrade. “Our report demonstrates that standardized, high-quality visual and thermal inspections are necessary to maximize PV system uptime and prevent safety incidents like fires and thermal events.” Lightning Surge Arrester
The SolarGrade PV Health Report analyzes more than 60,000 PV system health datapoints from hundreds of independent project assessments conducted with SolarGrade, HelioVolta’s cloud-based fieldwork management platform for renewable energy assets. SolarGrade software enables large-scale analyses of field observations by standardizing PV system QA/QC and O&M and by automating reporting.
Key findings from the first SolarGrade PV Health Report include:
“The SolarGrade PV Health Report demonstrates that QAQC inspection for PV assets assures safe, reliable operations that meet performance expectations. We’re thrilled that our partners at HelioVolta are sharing their unique insights from the field to inform the market,” said Anna Waters, VP of commercial operations at Omnidian.
The SolarGrade PV Health Report leverages data from hundreds of PV system inspections conducted from 2021 to 2023. 75% of the projects inspected are installed on commercial rooftops, and system sizes range from 100 kW to 350 MW.
“Solar power is fundamentally safe and reliable — but only when it is properly installed and maintained,” commented David Penalva, co-founder of HelioVolta and SolarGrade. “Our new report underscores the vital role of fieldworkers in the renewable energy transition: they are the safeguards of PV systems, and they need modern software tools like the SolarGrade software to do their best work.”
News item from HelioVolta and SolarGrade
Kelsey has spent almost seven years in the renewable energy space and is the current managing editor of Solar Power World.
The wilful ignorance of dielectric coatings for solar equipment and installations is causing problems, making installations less safe and making solar arrays much more difficult to keep clean. It is not necessary to risk shock, be afraid of water or saltwater and tolerate dirt and grime on panels.
I work for a large ESCO performing Commissioning of our Energy Performance Contract jobs, around 2013 we started Commissioning our Solar projects as well. Anyone not Commissioning Solar is missing out and putting the projects at risk. Walmart and Amazon found out the hard way.
Wow, incredibly insightful report, I guess we need to get our act together as an industry.
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