At Intersolar San Diego, Sean White meets Michael Schwarz, General Manager for growth at Arch O&M, about operations and maintenance for solar projects. Schwarz describes O&M as the “service shop” for PV systems, with days driven by shifting schedules, customer and technician calls, and occasional field work. Arch focuses mainly on commercial/industrial and ground-mount systems roughly 400 kW to 20 MW, with maintenance needs increasing around years 7–9. They handle preventive work such as IV curve testing (often with Fluke), drone flights, insulation resistance (“megger”) testing, and troubleshooting, and they increasingly specialize in wind and storm damage remediation. They discuss challenges of sourcing matching replacement modules for older arrays, Arch’s emphasis on training and growing talent, NABCEP’s PV Commissioning and Maintenance Specialist certification and upcoming O&M associate credential, and the NABCEP conference in Milwaukee.

 

Topics Covered:

O&M = Operations and Maintenance

CapEx = Capital Expenditure

OpEx = Operational Expenditure

PV Maintenance          

NABCEP PVCMS Certification

NABCEP Conference

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Harley Davidson Museum

Electric cruiser bike

Electric adventure bike

IV curve testing

Insulation resistance training

Megometer

Arch

O&M training programs

OMAT = O&M Associate Technician

 

Reach out to Michael Schwarz here:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michael-schwarz-ms-lod-lean123

Website: www.archsolar.com

 

Learn more at www.solarSEAN.com and be sure to get NABCEP certified by taking Sean’s classes at:

www.heatspring.com/sean

www.solarsean.com/pvcms