June 2012

Asset Management in
Renewable Energy

James Dixon BSc [Hons]

South West Area Business Development
Manager, Mosscliff Environmental Ltd
The largest installer of small-wind and
commercial PV in East Anglia since 2007 [Pre
Feed-in Tariff ].

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Asset Management In Renewable

Energy
Overview of RE industry
Brief history of Feed In Tariffs and their consequences
System Components
The present state of the market
Owners and Stakeholders
Existing asset management arrangements
Questions
Workshop session 3 case studies

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Renewable Energy Technologies

Wind
Solar PV
Solar Thermal
Ground Source Air Source
Heat Pumps
Biomass & CHP
Anaerobic Digestion
Tidal/Wave

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 June 2012

Feed In Tariffs Introduced In Response to E.

U. CO2 Emissions Targets

Source:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/Newsletter/Documents1/Feed-in%20Tariff%20(FIT)%20Update%20Newsletter%
20Issue%207.pdf

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 June 2012

Consequences
Enthusiastic take up
Exploitation by financial investors
60% drop in installed cost in less than 2 years

Source:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/Newsletter/Documents1/Feed-in%20Tariff%20(FIT)%20Update%20Newsletter%
20Issue%207.pdf

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

System Components

PV
Panels
Cabling
Inverter +
switches

Inverter has a life

span.

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Generator Gearbox
System Components

Wind
Tower
nacelle [moving parts]
Blades
control panel + cabling
often new transformer.

A 50kW Endurance E3120 Nacelle

THE SYSTEM MUST BE GENERATING PAST THE PAYBACK

THRESHOLD TO MEET THE FINANCIAL PROMISES SET BY
THE SALESMEN
Lifetime of FITs generation = 25 years PV / 20 years wind

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Where are we now?

Fit and forget culture racing for subsidies

Market condensation
Product refinement
Focus on system efficiency to maximise returns
Domestic market dropping

Unforeseen issues
Mortgage caveats, insurance conditions, Building Regs

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Asset Owners and Stakeholders

End customer

Supplier / Installer / Maintenance Contractor

Manufacturer - Worldwide

Government

National Grid and DNOs [smart grids]

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Existing Asset Management
Wind
In large and medium sized wind
technologies management
systems exist to monitor the
operative state of the turbines for
both customer and manufacturer
Systems used are not cost
effective for the sub-10kw range
of turbines
The turbine technology is simple
at this size so it is assumed that
the service contractor or the end
user can determine the fault
themselves. This is a potential
growth area
www.mosscliff.co.uk
June 2012
PV
Domestic level management
straightforward
Commercial level more
complex
Panels in strings of up to 18
Strings range from 1 1200
per system
Physical, financial and
logistical challenge to isolate
faults within systems
Technology exists cost
implication
 June 2012

Asset Maturity
Generation must be in commission to receive the FIT
Therefore Repair and replacement will be required

Component Typical Warranty Typical life Typical replacement

cost

Inverter 5 10 years <10years 1,000

PV panel 95% output 10 years, Unknown as yet 1,000 installed

c80% 25 years

Roof mounting 10 years indefinite n/a

www.mosscliff.co.uk
 June 2012

Summary

There has been explosive growth in Renewable Energy at the

domestic/small commercial end of the market
Large amount of fit and forget
Customers already surprised by some of the consequences
What are the potential pitfalls and solutions to keep the installed capacity
on line to deliver the sustained reduction in national CO2 emissions

It is a young industry experiencing some intruding growing pains. The

question to pose is: What might the mature phase look like?

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 June 2012

Any Questions?

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 June 2012

Workshop Discussion
1. Antique Solar PV panel replacement?

2. Wind turbine management if OEM is no longer trading

3. Turbine Life Cycle End of life considerations, replace, refurbish,

dispose? What will the energy market look like in 2030?

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