Inspections may be carried out at almost any stage in a project lifecycle. At a vendor’s premises equipment can be inspected during or after fabrication, as it leaves the premises or upon delivery to a site. A number of inspections are commonly performed during the operation of a solar project. Here, the main focus is on safety and structural integrity.
Periodic monitoring of all the devices at a solar site is recommended, every two or four years. This provides a client with a thorough review of each device's technical condition – information that can be useful in improving performance, or obtaining an independent opinion of a device's condition, prior to a key commercial milestone (e.g. end of warranty of period), or may be necessary to fulfil regulatory or insurance requirements.
If something goes wrong, a damage investigation can be most helpful in identifying the extent and type of the damage incurred and, crucially, in determining the root cause of the problem. An independent damage investigation report is important in finding a technical remedy to the problem, establishing responsibility for funding any repair work and putting in an insurance claim.
