Balancing technical and commercial risk on behalf of solar farm owners and operators
Horan Power Engineering stepped in to support a solar farm owner with 1.5MW of offline inverter capacity on a UK solar farm. Four LV circuit breakers connecting the inverter bank to the power transformer had been condemned through a testing and inspection exercise. A long lead time for replacement components meant that the owner was facing over £70,000 of business interruption losses.
The circuit breakers were cleaned and contacts dressed before they were were bench tested. The testing included insulation resistance, contact resistance and protection pickup/trip testing.
Following the testing two circuit breakers were deemed not fit for service and two were considered acceptable. Whilst the condition was poor, they were deemed fit for short term service. A risk assessment was carried out to justify the return of these two circuit breaker to service for a period of 3 months whilst replacements could be sourced, saving the owner approximately £30,000.