Klaer is a company that focuses on servicing and managing solar farms. The company manages and maintains solar energy systems for developers and third parties who want to keep their system in top condition. “With good maintenance and management, you can easily increase the yield of a major solar farm by 10 to 15 percent”, explains Jan Klijnstra, the director of Klaer. “At Klaer, we focus on optimal performance, year in, year out throughout the entire lifespan of the solar farm.
Why is maintaining and managing solar farms so important? Jan explains and introduces us to Klaer’s way of working.
Klaer offers four services: maintenance, asset management, advice and asset performance. These services are combined to suit the needs of the client. Jan explains: “Our core values are collaboration and continuity. That’s why we always aim for long-term relationships with our clients that allow us to really dig deep. That’s also what investors demand.”
Good maintenance starts with continually monitoring the systems. “We take action immediately when a problem is identified. We also carry out regular planned maintenance on solar energy systems to prevent problems before they arise.”
“Our asset managers carry out regular visual inspections of all critical system components. We also use drones with thermal cameras and we carry out preventive maintenance using big data to resolve potential issues before they become a problem. The goal is to minimise downtime and to plan maintenance in such a way that the effect on production and system output is kept to a minimum,” explains Jan.
Klaer distinguishes between three types of asset management: technical, commercial and financial.
Jan explains: “Technical asset management is all about identifying and analysing risks promptly and giving advice about potential improvements. We do this using detailed reports on the technical condition of systems etc. For example, we can determine when it’s time to clean the panels by studying the output of the soiling sensor.”
“Commercial asset management involves studying PPA structures, while financial asset management focuses on the administrative side,” says Jan.
“If you want to exceed your clients’ expectations, you need to know what they are – and we certainly do. This was confirmed last year with a score of 9 out of 10 for our customer satisfaction survey. The reason we exist is to continue the energy transition, particularly now the market is under pressure. We can only achieve that goal by putting quality first and by showing full commitment and a healthy dose of creativity,” explains Jan.
As well as the technical monitoring of systems, Klaer also gives clients advice. “We listen to our clients’ needs. Some only need advice. To help them, we combine our own knowledge and experience with those of our partners and consider the current developments in the market.”
“This allows us to provide our partners with recommendations to help them implement operations and maintenance optimally. We use performance analyses to form an accurate picture of the operational efficiency and quality of systems to improve the investment readiness, insurability and profitability of these systems. In everything we do, our motto is: know your client and your market through and through.”
In the past, operations and maintenance were often seen as an inconvenient obligation. Thankfully this is no longer the case. “It’s good to see that the Dutch solar sector is increasingly recognising the added value of asset management. If you decide to invest in a solar farm, you will want it to deliver good results to optimise your business case and contribute as much as possible to the energy transition. Every kilowatt of solar energy you don’t generate is one too many. Of course, this is specialised work. Thanks to our understanding of factors including the energy market and government regulations, we have succeeded in cutting costs by an average of 20 to 30 percent in recent years,” explains Jan.
Service and management is a crucial component of the planning and operation of solar farms. The goal of service and management is to optimise the performance of your solar farm, and that’s now more important than ever.
“Many new projects run into financial difficulties in the planning phase. This is all due to rising costs, falling subsidies and the increasing complexity of projects. Even projects that do come to fruition increasingly have to deal with greatly reduced profit margins”.
“Thankfully there are many projects in the pipeline at present. The energy transition is only just beginning and there’s still much work to be done. With proper maintenance and management, you can increase the yield of a large solar farm by 10 to 15 percent. Thanks to our many years of experience in developing and operating our own solar farms and those of third parties, we know that there’s a lot to be gained by optimising your operations and maintenance.”
“At Klaer, we make sure our clients’ systems remain in top technical and financial condition. We continually work to optimise the yield with measures such as curtailment and energy storage. We focus on delivering optimal performance now and in the future.”
Klaer managed around 700 MWp at the start of January 2023. “We expect the total to pass 1 GWp by the end of 2023,” says Jan.
This article is based on this article in Solar Magazine.
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