Operations and maintenance at PVUSA: utility perspective on the operation of PV systems

Photovoltaics for Utility Scale Applications (PVUSA) is a cooperative demonstration project sponsored by PG&E, the US Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, EPRI, and other member utilities and government agencies. The project offers design, procurement, installation, and operating experience in a utility environment for a variety of state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) power systems. PVUSA provides a knowledge base required for effective electric utility implementation of the technology. This paper describes the development of a utility-grade operations and maintenance (O&M) program for PVUSA. O&M documentation and procedures, operational experiences, lessons learned, and conclusions are presented.<
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