India’s solar operations and maintenance (O&M) market is expanding rapidly, driven by the need to monitor performance, reduce downtime, and improve asset yields through analytics, remote monitoring, and emerging digital tools. Advanced O&M practices such as data-driven performance monitoring, drone inspections, and predictive maintenance are helping developers enhance generation and cut losses; however, their uptake remains low and uneven across the market. Against this backdrop, at Renewable Watch’s conference on the O&M of Solar Power Plants, senior sector stakeholders shared their views on the key trends, challenges, and the evolving role of digitalisation in solar O&M. Edited excerpts…
Ankush Agarwal
From a developer’s perspective, digital priorities today extend well beyond execution and routine operations. Since EPC and O&M activities are largely handled by specialised external agencies, the focus is increasingly on higher-value digital interventions. One key priority area is market operations, which involves improving day-ahead generation and price forecasting using weather data. As most developers do not have in-house meteorology or weather research capabilities, they rely on multiple external data providers. The emphasis is on assessing the efficiency of data usage and accurate generation forecasts, along with price predictions. The overall objective is twofold: supporting grid stability while simultaneously maximising revenue.
In addition, developers are increasingly looking at the automation of design and engineering activities. Frequent layout changes during project development often require repeated corrections, increasing execution timelines and the risk of errors. Automating these design and engineering processes at the IPP level is, therefore, emerging as an important digital initiative to improve efficiency and reduce project execution risks.
With the increase in the implementation of digitalisation initiatives, such as advanced monitoring, predictive maintenance, and digital twins, solar O&M can deliver revenue gains of around 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent. From a budgetary perspective, digitalisation accounts for no more than 1 per cent of the overall revenue budget and includes all IT operations, digital upgrades, and even the salaries of personnel involved in managing these systems.
Abhishek Jain
O&M, or more accurately defined as asset management, is emerging as a critical pillar of India’s renewable energy growth story. As the sector matures, the key challenge for independent power producers is no longer limited to execution but increasingly revolves around scheduling decisions. With costs expected to rise further, this has become a pressing issue. Solutions are required both from a developer’s perspective, through building in-house capabilities or collaborating with technology providers to improve forecasting, and from a policy standpoint, where government support in strengthening weather forecasting systems is crucial. Ultimately, the issue hinges on the accuracy of weather forecasting.
At the regulatory level, the tightening of DSM norms is gradually bridging some long-standing gaps. While the industry may have to accept these changes with a pinch of salt, it is important to view them from a system operator’s perspective. Grid reliability and cost optimisation are essential to keeping end-consumer tariffs as low as possible. From this standpoint, renewables cannot be assessed in isolation. Although solar and wind are undeniably cheaper than thermal or other conventional sources on a standalone basis, a system-level view reveals additional costs. These include transmission costs, especially given the low transmission utilisation, as well as an imbalance in forecast, and ancillary service costs. When all these factors are taken together, renewable power must be evaluated through a broader system-cost lens.
Mathew Oommen
We face several challenges, particularly in the wind segment compared to solar. In wind, the core issue continues to be under-generation. Investment decisions are built around a certain internal rate of return, which is entirely dependent on actual generation. When generation falls short, the entire investment case weakens. In contrast, solar does not face challenges of the same magnitude, as plants typically achieve the generation levels envisaged in the business case. However, this does not mean solar is without any issues. For solar, the primary challenges are largely local and site-specific. One major concern is theft at project sites, an issue faced by most developers. Addressing this is not straightforward, and there is no single solution. Each developer is managing the situation in their own way, using different methods.
From an industry perspective, predictive maintenance is another area where significant improvement is needed, as it requires monitoring at the module level, which has not yet been achieved and remains cost-prohibitive. As a result, predictive maintenance is typically carried out at the string level. The objective is to predict which strings or components are likely to fail before they actually do. Ideally, the analysis should assess average temperature and vibration levels across the plant and then identify outliers. Such signals can indicate that a transformer or inverter may fail within three to six months, enabling proactive intervention. At the same time, caution is required to avoid false positives. Not all data analysis is accurate, and large-scale analytics can sometimes generate misleading signals. There is a risk of responding to these by replacing transformers or inverters that are actually functioning properly. At present, if assessed honestly, the industry is still not doing enough when it comes to predictive maintenance.
Gautam Samanta
Digitalisation at every stage of the project lifecycle is extremely important. Starting from the installation itself, it is essential to maintain clear and traceable data, as this information becomes critical from an O&M perspective later on. From a generation standpoint, access to detailed and granular data is equally imperative. While SCADA systems do provide this information, each parameter needs to be analysed carefully to derive meaningful insights. From a cybersecurity perspective, the inverter and operational data also requires strong protection. With growing global concerns around unauthorised access to sensitive operational data, robust cybersecurity measures are essential to safeguard the systems and prevent external interference.
Another critical aspect is data protection during power shutdowns. Even when storage systems are in place, there may be situations where site-level connectivity with headquarters is disrupted. In such cases, irrespective of whether the outage lasts for one hour or two, the data generated during this period must be securely stored, protected, and analysed. This data carries significant operational value and cannot be lost.
Advances in technology now enable real-time data capture, supported by software algorithms that are increasingly embedded directly within inverters. Compared to inverters used a decade ago, the depth and quality of data available today is far more advanced. This data is captured through SCADA systems and fed into monitoring platforms. Based on insights derived from this data, developers also engage with SCADA providers to request customised datasets or additional functionalities, which are then incorporated into future projects. Today, several robust, user-oriented solutions are already available in the market. The focus, therefore, should be on effectively leveraging these platforms, continuously monitoring performance, and evaluating outcomes using the data already available.
Rashmi Shringi
At present, the industry is grappling with the increasingly critical challenge of cybersecurity. As all stakeholders are connected to the grid, developers are simultaneously strengthening their safeguard systems. In an environment where technology adoption and digitalisation are accelerating rapidly, cybersecurity has become an essential counterpart to this progress, as even a small bug can potentially trigger widespread disruption either across the entire grid or within individual systems. This risk is particularly concerning as it often remains unseen. However, with robust systems in place, it is possible to protect plants, equipment, and core solar power assets from cyber threats. From an operations perspective, monitoring begins with tracking plant availability, followed by the investment performance ratio (IPR), weather performance ratio (WPR), and adjusted operating performance ratio (OPR). This framework helps assess how a plant is performing or generating in comparison to both expected output and prevailing weather conditions, as well as the level of investor IPR achieved on any given day. These parameters are monitored daily. For the rooftop segment, KPI targets are set at a regional level. In contrast, for utility-scale plants of 50 MW and above, plant-specific KPIs, including plant availability, adjusted OPR, WPR, and IPR, are closely monitored.
Looking ahead, forecasting and scheduling have emerged as key areas for solar O&M, as they have a significant impact on revenues. Although multiple agencies are currently engaged in forecasting and scheduling, their outputs are continuously tracked and reviewed. The objective going forward is to digitalise these functions and transition towards models requiring minimal or no manual intervention.
