Shading

Total investment costs for the PV system

Annual irradiation

Land ownership

Access to the utility power grid

If trees (or vegetation) adjacent to the PV plant do not shade the PV arrays, there is no need to cut them back – and they can safely be ignored.

Some of the area of the site of a large PV farm needs to be reserved (kept clear) for logistics (moving, storing equipment, etc.).

When planning a MW_p PV system, various design / layout options (with different types of modules) can be considered, in order to see which design /layout would be the optimum.

There is no need to consider different design options because the yield is determined solely by the solar irradiation at the site.

A perimeter fence around a PV plant will cause unacceptable delays when maintenance personnel needs access.

Measures to prevent vandalism and theft need to be implemented - during the construction phase of the project as well as during the operation period.

A 5 MW PV system could have as many as 20,000 PV modules.

Measures also need to be taken against unauthorised access to the site (during construction and operation) for safety reasons (to prevent injury and death).

To the grid operator / utility

To market dealers

To end users / electricity consumers

If an unintended plant outage occurs, local electricians can be hired, even if they are not familiar with PV systems and have not received PV-specific training.

If technical failures occur, for example, during a monsoon, it is not a problem to delay carrying out repairs until the end of the rainy season.

Repairs should be performed exclusively by authorised personnel.

Access to spare parts is crucial during the entire operation period of a large PV system.

A stock of spare parts on-site should be avoided because it ‘ties up’ capital.

Multi-MW PV systems are connected to medium or high-voltage grids.

Multi-MW PV systems are connected to the low-voltage distribution grid.

Feed-in to the grid is limited by ‘grid availability’.

Feed-in to the grid is technically not possible if the distance to the grid-connection point is too large.

Design of support schemes for renewable energies

Applications for building / land-use permits, etc.

Drawing up plans for the procurement of system components and delivery logistics.

Drawing up plans for the construction and installation of the PV plant, and associated logistics.

Extreme weather events

A power-grid outage

Trees on adjacent property

Oversized transformers

Defective modules