Does early maintenance yield longer-lasting solar?

Australia now has more than four million rooftop solar systems installed, with commercial and industrial assets adding significantly to that base. Many were built during the first major wave of solar investment, and assumptions about their continued performance are increasingly being tested by age and use, with a vast majority of the issues identified involving inverters, cabling and isolators.

Recently, Industrias, an Australian commercial solar and battery maintenance specialist, released data showing that almost one in four solar systems inspected contains at least one fault serious enough to affect performance or safety.

Working at the intersection of industrial design, electrical engineering and facility management, and backed by a network of more than 150 partners, Industrias draws on a proprietary dataset spanning more than 4000 installations for its research into solar asset performance.

While drawing attention to a significant percentage of faults, Industrias’s data also shows what proactive maintenance can achieve. Its research indicates that, following initial inspection and rectification, fault incidence fell by approximately 50% at the second inspection, a result the company attributes to the compounding value of identifying and addressing issues early.

“These faults don’t simply disappear,” said Daniel Lazarus, co-founder and CEO at Industrias. “Solar and battery systems are exposed to weather, thermal cycling, component degradation and general wear. New issues emerge over time and that is precisely why ongoing inspection and maintenance remains critical, but they do get worse over time if left unchecked.”

Lazarus said that many asset owners assume their systems are operating as intended because they continue generating electricity. “We regularly find faults that reduce performance, create reliability risks or present safety concerns, often with no visible sign to the owner.”

The company wants to encourage a wide range of stakeholders, including residential owners, commercial portfolio managers, insurers and councils overseeing community solar infrastructure, to consider its findings when planning their system maintenance.

“Installing solar is only the beginning,” Lazarus said. “If solar is energy security, maintenance is what protects that security. Annual inspections should be as standard as any other routine asset check.”

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