pv Europe: How important is a quality oriented O&M of PV installations for maximizing the return on invest?
Gerald Wotruba: Due to the high quality awareness in Japan, O&M is of great importance. A quality-oriented and professional O&M is mandatory to secure the smooth operation and thus ROI over the entire life cycle of a PV plant.
Does this only apply for utility scale installations? Is there a threshold?
ADLER Solar Works mainly provides its professional O&M services for utility scale installations. But the Japanese market also has a huge amount of small scale systems around 50 kW, although some of them are consolidated by one investor. Typically, O&M services are profitable for operators of PV installations above 50 kW.
Can you illustrate that with concrete examples and some figures?
ADLER Solar Works has plants in operation starting from 50 kW going up to 2,5 MW. The average installed capacity is around 600 kW per plant.
What scope do your services have in the field of O&M?
The aim of ADLER Solar Works is to reach a volume of 200 MW O&M contracts in Japan by the end of 2017.
How expensive is that service?
The costs for O&M services are still higher than in the European market. In the future, we expect a price reduction due to more competition as well as the further development and optimization of O&M services.
How many installations do you have under contract?
With 70 contracted projects in Japan ADLER Solar Works was well on target by end of August 2016 according to the business plan.
How important are your international activities in the O&M field for your business? What are your main target markets?
For ADLER Solar Works and the German joint venture partner ADLER Solar Services, international activities are generally important. ADLER Solar has long-standing, comprehensive experience in delivering a full service portfolio for the solar industry. This enables the company to offer customized solutions and services to optimize the performance of PV plants. For the new PV Training Center in Yokohama, which is part of the dena project, specific training programs have been developed for partners as well as existing and new employees to ensure a high degree of service quality in Japan and to foster the knowledge transfer between Germany and Japan. Apart from Japan, ADLER Solar focuses on Germany and Europe as key target markets.
Is there everywhere a sufficient understanding for the importance of O&M?
Not yet, especially to Japanese investors and plant owners we often need to explain the importance of a professional O&M service and its benefits. However, there is a growing awareness of the value of professional O&M by increasing the IRR for investors, nonetheless availability guarantees or PR guarantees are almost unknown. A very important initiative to define common standards are the “O&M Best Practices Guidelines”, that have been published recently by the association Solar Power Europe in collaboration with ADLER Solar and other leading European solar companies.
What is your strategy to raise awareness?
A job well done for a client is one way of raising awareness and providing the basis for further commissions. Moreover, we specifically make use of the broad, existing Japan-wide network of our Japanese shareholder YKD to get in contact with potential customers. On top, we also participate in all the relevant PV-related exhibitions and conferences in Japan to spread the word.
End of May you opened a PV Training Center in Yokohama, Japan. What is the approach?
The PV Training Center has been realized within the dena RES Project Japan, which is part of the worldwide dena Renewable Energy Solutions Programe coordinated by Deutsche Energie Agentur (dena) – the German Energy Agency – and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) within the German Energy Solutions Initiative. Aim of the project was to anchor the ADLER Solar Works joint venture founded in July 2015 further in the target market of Japan. The service sector for PV installations and components in Japan has hitherto hardly been developed. One of the goals of the project is therefore to show all market participants, such as installation operators, investors, etc., that the services provided by ADLER Solar Works offer added value in the life cycle of a PV installation and thus can ensure that it performs well for more than 20 to 25 years. Moreover, by means of the Training Center and the PV installation, we can pass on the specialized knowledge and many years of valuable experience “Made in Germany” in a concrete, practical way and thus optimally serve the needs of the individual target groups in Japan.
Can you exemplify that with some examples?
In the first step, the PV Training Center Yokohama was used for the internal training of ADLER Solar Works staff. By now, ADLER Solar Works has already realized first training sessions for its Japanese partner network. The participants get hands-on training regarding the complete service portfolio of ADLER Solar Works, from Engineering & Consultancy services to professional O&M. To this end, our individual training and consulting packages include plant design, simulation and yield assessment, acceptance tests, plant inspection services as well as preventive and corrective maintenance services.
Are there already positive results for a knowledge transfer?
ADLER Solar Works is now able to provide its services to Japanese and foreign customers and all reports can be prepared bilingually. By now, our Japanese engineers, as well as some of our partners who have already participated in the training programme are able to handle the projects 100% self-sufficiently.
What importance does this training center have for your business in Japan? How important is the Japanese PV market for you?
The Japanese market is ranked among the top five markets worldwide regarding installed capacity. Consequently, there will be an increasing demand of high-quality services to ensure the smooth performance of PV plants in the long run.The Training Center is a keystone for the implementation of ADLER Solar Works services like incoming goods testing, premium O&M, After-Sales-Services and more in Japan. ADLER Solar Works stands for high quality services. With the Training Center we are able to fulfil these requirements as well as to transfer the existing knowledge “Made in Germany” and experience to the Japanese market.
With the support of dena we were also able to boost the image of ADLER Solar Works further. For example, at the inauguration event of the PV Training Center in Yokohama we could welcome a number of high-ranking officials, among them Dr. Hans Carl von Werthern, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Japan and Yutaka Matsuzawa, Division Manager of Climate Change Policy Division, Global Environment Bureau, Ministry of the Environment.
Interviewed by Hans-Christoph Neidlein
Related news:
https://www.pveurope.eu/planning/padcon-and-suncycle-act-hand-hand-against-pid-large-module-fields
