Inspections of photovoltaic installations – we visited stud farms
At the end of this week, our service technicians went on assignment to inspect 4 photovoltaic installations of 50 kWp each, bringing the total to 200 kWp. All installations on the ground, located on the territory of 4 different Horse Studs in Wielkopolska province, Pila district.
What does a 50 kWp ground-mounted PV system consist of?
Like any photovoltaic installation, it consists of photovoltaic panels, inverter(s), wiring and the support structure on which the panels are mounted. Of course, the whole thing is held together by screws, without which a good fixation of the modules would not take place.
The four installations we reviewed used HUAWEI SUN2000-40KTL-M3 inverters. These are inverters from one of the leading manufacturers, adapted to work with a three-phase network with maximum efficiency reaching up to 98.7%! There was one such inverter for each installation.
The photovoltaic panels, in turn, came from the “stable” of JinKo, also a global manufacturer and leader in the field of RES.
The structure embedded in the ground – as it later turned out – in the case of one of the installations checked, needed improvement.
Does a photovoltaic installation require regular maintenance?
Regulations, so far, do not regulate the OBLIGATION of owners to have up-to-date, for example, annual inspections of the photovoltaic system. On the other hand, according to the guidelines for electrical installations, which is, after all, what a photovoltaic installation is, inspections should be performed regularly – with the proviso that they should be performed at least once every five years. This means that it is worthwhile, if only for yourself, to have a review of your photovoltaic installation.
At this point it is worth noting that there is a warranty for virtually every component of the photovoltaic system. For inverters usually 10 years, for panels 10-12 years, for construction 10 years and for the installation itself also.
Still, it is worth checking how the installation performs after, say, a year. It is better to prevent and control than to wait until something breaks and then trigger the whole warranty procedure.
What is the inspection of PV installation – what do we check?
First, we checked the correctness of the installation.
The first part of the review is the so-called. visual inspection. During it, our team checks the strength with which the bolts securing the panels to the structure were tightened, whether the panels have no visible damage, whether the elements of the support structure have not been deformed or corroded.
Our team then proceeded to implement the measurement part, namely:
We checked the AC and DC side – that is, we took the relevant measurements. Voltage on the strings, or strings, resistance measurements on each string, and ground resistance measurements – this is on the DC side. On the AC side, on the other hand, we checked the voltage and resistance on each of the 3 phases.
In the final report, we indicated that we had no comments on 2 of the 4 installations, while the other 2 received additional comments. In the case of one of them, the structure, which was settling under the weight of the panels, needed improvement and should be raised. The second installation showed The disappearance of one of the phases. After checking it, the result was significantly different from the norm, as its indication was 106.7 V. Next, we measured the insulation resistance of the cable supplying the inverter The phase showed a result very below normal, just 11 kilooms. Our recommendation was to replace the AC power cord.
Our electricians completed their work in the field after about 6 hours and, upon returning to base, prepared reports with recommendations and guidelines for the next inspections.
Inspections of photovoltaic installations – we visited stud farms – SUMMARY:
Location: Greater Poland Voivodeship, vicinity of Piła
PV data: 4 photovoltaic installations of 50 kWp, consisting of JinKo photovoltaic modules and HUAWEI inverters
Description: installations inspected, of which 2 installations out of 4 required additional work in accordance with recommendations
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