Wind & Solar farms: Negotiate better conditions for your O&M contracts

Many O&M contracts signed during the 2009-2010 period are reaching their exit door window. With a more competitive market and new pure players dedicated to maintenance, it is now possible to negotiate better conditions for your O&M contracts. With the renewables industry evolving, good O&M is crucial for asset owners.

Greensolver global view of the market and recent discussions with O&M provider were compiled in the hot trends below:

Availability per WTG

It is easy to achieve a 95-97% annual availability on 5 turbines but that does not cover against the poor performance of one WTG. An availability per WTG is a way to make sure each turbine of your park will perform as it should.

Energy availability

Achieving a good temporal availability does not mean that your asset will produce 95 or 97% of what it could have produced. A warrantied energy availability is a way to make sure the maintenance is performed during low wind periods. Breakdowns during high wind period will also have a bigger impact on the availability.

Intervention time

It is important to make sure your maintenance provider is reactive and trigger quick intervention when breakdowns occurred. This can be enforced by using a capped on site intervention time. This should be included in the O&M contracts.

Spare parts

The availability of spare parts is a key element to reach a quick resolution of the breakdowns of your WTG. The O&M provider should maintain a minimal stock of the most common parts.

The renegotiation of your maintenance contract is an effective way to improve your asset’s profitability. Read more about how can Greensolver assist with O&M contracts negotiation here.