Case Study

Colorado Solar O&M

Situation Overview

Ethos was pursuing construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) opportunities with a prospective customer who was an operator in the distributed wind space when the operator’s O&M manager asked if Ethos could assist the operator in getting a high-profile solar asset back online. The solar site had been built in 2008 and was located at the Denver International Airport (DIA). With this convenient and prominent location, the site was intended to showcase their investments and capabilities in solar. Unfortunately, the site was an ongoing operational challenge due to the trackers’ relative positions to each other and the sun.

By 2018 the asset was in serious disrepair and seriously underperforming. Most of the arrays were not tracking properly after the previous O&M independent service provider (ISP) had been unable to manage a system built with hydraulically driven trackers. The issues ranged from mistakenly filling hydraulic oil reservoirs with the incorrect oils, to leaking hydraulics, pitch rams that were so badly worn that they did not actuate, and pumps that were empty and failed. The electrical system and controls systems also had serious deficiencies and unrepaired failures.

Ethos visited the site and conducted a thorough inspection and diagnostic, identifying three main areas that needed troubleshooting and repair – the trackers, the electrical system and the programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Ethos prepared both a repair budget and an estimated O&M budget necessary to maintain the assets going forward, noting that hydraulically actuated trackers on this system would require additional care and maintenance for the rest of its operational life.

Ethos systematically troubleshot each issue, working with the owner and manufacturers of components to obtain specifications to source replacement parts or repair existing parts to get the site fully functional. The failures in the electrical system were diagnosed, and faulty equipment was repaired or replaced. Ethos then repaired and replaced the failed obsolete PLCs. Ethos was able to work with its vendors to recover the original system programming to make it functional when added to a newer version of the PLC with a new operating system.

When the solar assets in Denver were resolved, the Ethos team was asked to solve a wide range of distributed systems in disrepair at a solar farm powering the water treatment plant in Alamosa, Colorado. This location required security clearance and climbing certifications, all of which the Ethos technicians had. Problem solving at this location was akin to using a Swiss army knife, as the Ethos team leveraged their mechanical and electrical (e.g., transformers, disconnects and inverters) to rebuild PLCs while sourcing third-party replacement gear boxes for tracker systems, replacing drive shafts, and repairing wire damage from sewage while avoiding rattlesnakes in the arrays. 

The Impact

While Ethos did not have prior experience with the trackers or PLCs, both of which were at the end of their life, Ethos embraced the project’s challenges to be resourceful and creative to get the solar site operational again knowing how important this asset was to the owner.

With the showcase asset now up and running, Ethos managed the annual preventive maintenance and associated break-fix work for the next three years until the owner sold the asset to a global operator who brought in their own nationally contracted O&M provider to include preventive maintenance.

Ethos does not shy away from complex or high-profile projects that include obsolete components, site security clearances, local hazards such as location or local wild life including rattle snakes that like the warmth of the transformers, bankrupt manufacturers or poor original design and implementation. Instead, they bring their experience, ingenuity and grit to troubleshoot, find a solution, and get the job done.