Utility Power Plant

O&M Excellence

Run your investment right. We maintain renewables assets to optimize generation and maximize return on investment. With NovaSource, you gain an independent partner that delivers innovative services, actionable insights, safer operations, and data-informed O&M strategies that save operating costs.

How we fuel smart growth…

Technology Innovation

Smart Corrective Maintenance

Predictive Maintenance

Transparent Performance Reporting

Offering Turnkey Services Across Project Lifecycles

Project Development Support

Proforma Opex Budgeting

Equipment Selection

Value Engineering

Electrical Studies

Design Document Analysis

Construction Management Support

Commissioning

Factory and Site Acceptance Testing

Construction Due Diligence

Mechanical and Electrical Testing

System Energization 

Project Verification

Performance Optimization

Power Service

Remote Monitoring

Preventive Maintenance

Troubleshooting and Diagnostics

Corrective Maintenance

Module Cleaning

Vegetation Management

BESS

Aerial Inspections

Special Projects

Full System Repowering

Portfolio Component Upgrades

SCADA Upgrades

Restoration After Force Majeure Events

Spare Parts & Inventory Management

Decommissioning

System Decommissioning

Component Recycling

NovaSource Monitoring Solutions

NovaSource Operations Center

SUNSTREAMS

Heliolytics

Increasing Amount of Data Taken and Analyzed

Increasing Time to Issue Identification and Resolution

Layered Digital Tools

End-to-end Site Data

Powered by GlobalFED

236

Site Substations

593

Blocks

14,140

Inverters

115,551

Combiner Boxes

408,779

Trackers

7,712,781

Strings

93,447,438

PV Modules

~467 km2

Landscape Features

Asset counts for Sites in GlobalFED with active contracts as of 2022-04-12.

Land area estimated based on site metadata and Ong, S., Campbell, C., Denholm, P., Margolis, R., and Heath, G. Land-Use Requirements for Solar Power Plants in the United States. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.2172/1086349.

NovaSource supports any brand of major equipment

Plant Operations and Monitoring

Remote Operations

The NovaSource Control Room is the only PV-exclusive medium impact operation center in North America. We provide your assets with 24/7/365 monitoring, rapid issue detection, power dispatch/curtailment and grid support, energy forecasting, compliance, and cyber security.

300+

Plants

20+

GWdc

70+

NERC Facilities

650+

MWh Batteries

Key Operations Center Functions

Remote Operations Centers
  • Continuous Monitoring of all Site
  • Coordination of all Switching Actives
  • Alarm Monitoring and Response
  • Control of Power Plant Operations
  • Economic Dispatch
Support Operations
  • Outage Support and Planning
  • Procedure Review and Approval
  • Corrective Action Coordination
  • Customer Notifications and Reporting
  • Plant Optimization

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Smart Corrective Maintenance Illustration
Supervisory Operations
  • Maintains Oversight of Operations Actives
  • Ensures all Regulatory and Contractual Obligations are met
  • Independent Engineering Review of Operations Activities
  • Customer Support Liaison to Operations

Hierarchy of Operations Center Priorities

1. Safety

  • Lone Worker Program: Audible Alerts
  • Night Work: Substation Switching
  • Security Company 24×7 Phone Calls
  • Source of Power Clearances: Communication with Transmission

2. Compliance

  • NERC / CIP Execution
  • AVR Reporting (PPC)
  • Voltage Out of Band Reporting
  • Physical Security of Ops Center
  • Medium Impact NERC Facility
  • UPS-Battery Backup
  • Backup Generator
  • Dual ISP’s
  • Restricted Physical Access
  • Recorded Phone Lines
  • Backup Cell Phones
  • Backup Ops Center Location
  • 24x7x365 

3. Grid Regulations & Security

  • Curtailments
    • Automatic : (ADS – CAISO / ERCOT)
    • Backup: Operator
  • Grid Events
  • Directives from Transmission / Schedulers
  • CAISO EDAS Telemetry Exemptions
  • Shared Facilities Agreements
  • CIP Regulations
  • Forecasting
  • Outage Planning & Scheduling

4. Site/Substation

  • Breaker Trips
  • GSU Alarms (Temp / Pressure / Bushing)
  • Trackers: Hail/Wind/Flood/Snow Stow
  • Block Trips:
  • BESS Systems Alarms

5. Inverters

  • Inverter Faults
  • Inverter Comms
  • Inverter Derates
  • Inverter Module Offline
  • Trackers
  • DC Offline
  • Overtemperature
  • Shading
  • Cycling
  • String vs. Central Inverters
  • Inverter Not Curtailing
  • Inverter Not Clipping

ERC Monitoring & Submissions​

Monthly Compliance Assessment Reports (MCARs)

NovaSource provides the expertise and stability our GO’s have come to rely on for regular compliance tasks and reporting.

  • ERC provides monthly compliance breakdowns
  • Includes GO compliance records

GOP Self Certifications & Periodic Data Submittals

GOP Compliance Audits

NERC Alerts & Data Requests 

During the event of a NERC Alert or Data Request, NovaSource works hand-in-hand with Owners and their compliance team to ensure one cohesive submission.

Internal Compliance Investigations & Reviews

Standards Development

Industry Forums & Events

Power Plant Maintenance

Preventing & Solving Problems for Maximum Performance

Maintenance Activities

Core Maintenance Services

Our core maintenance services are tailored to help clients get the best performance from renewables investments over the long haul. They include:

  • End-to-end power plant maintenance (DC and AC)
  • Spare parts, inventory, and supply chain management
  • Maintenance scheduling with utility/grid operator
  • Development of plant-specific operating and safety procedures
  • Night-time maintenance
  • 24/7 on-call engineer for site support
  • Warranty repair performance for OEMs

CMMS Automation Benefits

Faster and more reliable response to issues

Work prioritized by energy/revenue loss

Optimized staff utilization and service routes

Assurance that technicians carry the right parts and tools

In-depth maintenance activity reporting

Aerial Imaging

Market Leader & Largest Global Provider of PV Services 

Heliolytics is the North American market leader and largest global provider of fully-integrated lifecycle photovoltaic (PV) services.

100+ GW

Aerial inspections performed globally

That’s more than our top competitors combined.

8,500+

Individual sites inspected globally

$62M+

Average recoverable energy loss detected per year

Supply Chain Solutions

NovaSource offers this differentiated service and continues to invest and build an industry- leading supply chain function to help drive this methodology throughout the market.

Management

Quarterly cycle counts at sites and with consigned inventory
Dedicated warehouse pallet space

Tracking

Implementing NSPS part numbers across the fleet. Each Work Order will consume out parts so we can track consumption data.

Evaluation

Evaluation of fleet assets and spare part recommendations

Replenishment

Replenishment with minimum on hand and reorder points

Communication

Communication with customers, suppliers and technicians

Vegetation Management

Vegetation Management is critical to operating a safe and successful plant.

Safety

Full Reduction

Tripping Hazard

Dangerous Wildlife

Productivity

Bi-facial performance

Weed shading

Maintenance access

Pest reduction

Legal Requirements

Noxious weed abatement

NovaSource team manages:

Mowing/Trimming

Herbicide application

Grazing

NovaSource increasingly self-performs:

Bi-facial performance

Weed shading

Maintenance access

Pest reduction

Vegetation Management in O&M base scope

  • Typically includes: one annual spray of pre-emergent under panels and around sensitive equipment, and 2-4 mows per year to keep vegetation at a safe height.
  • Lower cost per application/mow
  • Staff dedicated to site or small region and able to support PM activities in the non-cutting season

Vegetation Management can cost more than the O&M – let us help you keep costs down!

Enhanced Cleaning Solutions

NovaSource SMART Cleaning™

Effective module washing plans take into account geography and climate of each region

With 10+ years of module washing, NovaSource tailors a plan for each location

BESS Services

Customers benefit from early mover, lessons learned, and aggregate run time hours

Constantly refining prescriptive intel on alarms, faults, battery performance KPIs

0.24 GWh

under contract in 2019

4.6 GWh

under contract in 2022

>12 GWh

expected to be under contract in 2026

Pre-COD Services

Ensuring System Integrity, Safety and Performance

Commissioning

Commissioning is the final verification process used to compare and confirm an installed project to its designed plans and engineering. NovaSource’s team has commissioned over 1GW of PV installations. We help our clients lower the economic risk of their projects by identifying quality of workmanship, materials used and ensure system integrity for the lifespan of the system.

Our experience in risk evaluation, factory inspections and failure analysis of the key components (PV Modules, Inverters, Switchgears, Transformers) and high-quality customer communication, help to bridge the gap between EPC and O&M group, whether that is NovaSource or an alternative provider.

Hail Stow Services

Single stow tracker command functionality is critical. 

Hail damage is a serious risk to solar plants in many parts of the US. NovaSource pre-emptively stows plant trackers to reduce risk of hail damage. 

This critical service is executed by the world class NovaSource Operations Center with 24/7 manned operations. 

Pre-emptive stow dramatically reduces the risk of hail damage by moving the vulnerable module surface to a high stow angle. 

NovaSource monitors severe weather threats using a third-party forecasting partner and pre-emptively stows plant trackers in a favorable orientation to reduce risk of hail damage

Forecasting Service Capabilities

  • NSPS partners with a tier 1 commercial forecasting service​
  • Partner provides severe weather alerts (lightning, tornadoes, hail, etc) to companies, government institutions​
  • Severe weather alerts are issued by meteorologists from 24/7 forecasting center​
  • Positive communication maintained with follow-up phone call if NSCR does not acknowledge alert

Solar Industry’s First DC Health Guarantee

0.6%

Typical Energy Yield Improvement

DC Health yields revenue equivalent to $0.33-$1.32/KWDC*

25% of sites will experience 0.8% improvement or greater – equivalent to $0.44-$1.76/KWDC

Improved DC health through reduced detection and repair times. 

Utilization of SunStreams for combiner box health monitoring and automated work order creation

Measure DC health availability through twice annual IR Flyovers (string-level resolution)

Guarantee DC health availability 99% (LD below 99% Bonus above 99%)

Long-Term Service Agreement

We provide the UPP partners with tiered service categories that are designed to meet the unique needs of the industry:

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