pwr_december-2023 - 14

O&M
How Emerging Cloud
Software Supports
Renewable Energy O&M
A growing number of companies across
the telecom, utilities, renewable energy,
and other industries are discovering
the value that deployment operations
management systems can bring to operations
and maintenance (O&M). That's
because, in addition to these systems'
better-known capabilities-managing high
volume, repeatable but also site-specific,
critical infrastructure projects-they are
improving the management and execution
of multisite O&M as well.
In renewable energy, and for solar in
particular, that's an important insight.
Firms in this business are constantly
growing their installation base, and once
they deploy, operate and maintain what
they've built. Using deployment operations
management systems in O&M is
proving to be a wise approach, particularly
for companies that have relied on
spreadsheet-heavy processes or a menagerie
of systems to manage one or
both of those core functions.
To back up for a moment, deployment
operations
management
systems
are
cloud-based software solutions combining
project planning, project management,
and work management capabilities across
tens, hundreds, or thousands of builds.
These systems emerged from established
industries like telecom looking to deploy
their capital expenditures more efficiently.
They've helped tower, fiber, and other
firms develop and manage countless projects.
Deployment operations management
systems standardize highly repeatable elements
while enabling site-by-site variation
based on equipment, accessibility, priority,
staffing, material availability, and other factors.
They apply machine learning to help
managers refine forecasts and schedule
more strategically. They harness mobile
apps to bring field teams (Figure 1) and
subcontractors into the fold.
The benefits add up and scale with
volume. Deployment operations management
systems help complete projects
roughly 30% faster. Harnessing that
capacity lets infrastructure-development
firms in a growing number of industries
improve margins, and take on more work
while boosting employee experience-
nontrivial in a tight labor market for qualified
technical personnel.
Let's consider how these systems apply
in renewable energy O&M. While the
lessons apply to any energy-related technology
involving mass deployment, we'll
focus on solar.
Four Features Enable Massive
Growth
The International Energy Agency has
projected global solar photovoltaic (PV)
capacity will nearly triple from 2022 to
2027, adding 1.5 TW to installed capacity,
exceeding natural gas generation in
2026, and eclipsing coal-fired generation
by 2027. U.S. solar growth is on a similar
track, with today's roughly 150 GW of capacity
expected to grow to 375 GW by
the end of 2028, a roughly 20% annual
growth rate.
That's a lot of new solar panels at a lot
of new job sites-on rooftops great and
small, in fields and deserts, on slopes,
even over canals. Those deployments will
be done for a wide range of customers:
independent power producers, utilities,
asset
managers,
property
managers,
1. Infrastructure development in the solar
power sector includes finding qualified technical
personnel who can help monitor installations.
Thanks to advanced software, teams
working in the field can use mobile applications
and more to file reports. Courtesy: Sitetracker
14
businesses, school districts, housing authorities,
and developers among them.
The faster and more efficiently a builder
can finish these projects, the more business
that can be handled, and the faster
a company can grow.
The story doesn't end with deployment.
Once those panels, inverters, interconnections,
and so on are in place,
someone's got to maintain them en
masse and across diverse locations. Doing
all that in a way that helps ensure
the longevity of the installation; the economics
of the project; and the sanity of
executives, managers, and field personnel
takes a system. Those who have
transitioned their deployment operations
www.powermag.com
management systems into O&M-and
it's a seamless transition, typically-have
found four fundamental features to be
decisive. They are:
■ Single Source of Truth. This is about
centralizing and keeping
organized
vast volumes of project data. Benefits
of doing so in the cloud include an immediate
understanding of status up
and down the chain, and instant access
to reliable data. That translates
into an ability to collaborate in real
time based on what all parties recognize
as the ground truth.
■ Integrated Document Management.
This
includes maintaining version
control and document tracking from
development through O&M, including
tracking obligations against contracts.
Enabled by cloud-based storage and
accessibility, document management
also
involves automated workflows
and approvals. " Integrated " is key because
a document without context has
little value. Linking it with project progress
and site history provides context
necessary to operate at high volumes.
■ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Integration. Deployment operations
management systems do a lot, but
they don't-and shouldn't-reinvent
the ERP wheel. Integrating the two
ensures smooth data flows between
systems and improved financial tracking
and resource allocation.
■ Actionable Analytics. Reporting and
analytics turn oceans of project data
into information managers can act on.
Deployment operations management
systems provide customizable dashboards
and key performance indicators,
as well as automated reporting
tools to help identify trends, risks,
and opportunities. This helps in planning
and prioritizing the entire project
lifecycle, from project planning on
through to O&M.
Solar O&M Specifics
With that big picture in mind, how do
deployment operations management
systems improve solar O&M efficiency?
First, recognize that while solar PV
is less maintenance-intensive than traditional
fossil fuel plants or renewable
generation involving turbines, its installations
do need to be inspected (Figure 2)
over the long term.
POWER | December 2023
http://www.powermag.com
pwr_december-2023

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