Soft Market Test for Solar PV Maintenance Services

Tender description

This service is required to maintain circa. 80 solar PV installations currently managed by the Energy Team within Cornwall Council. These O&M services are fully outsourced and not undertaken in-house. The services sit alongside the energy management of the estate, including energy procurement and renewable PPAs. As part of Cornwall Council's Climate Emergency Action Plan there is also a target to install 2MW of new renewables per year and it is likely the maintenance requirements of the new schemes would be incorporated into this service as they come online. This market test is for maintenance services only. The scope of this service includes but is not limited to annual inspections and maintenance of the arrays both internally and externally; remedial maintenance and repairs as identified to be necessary; improvements and upgrades as identified as beneficial to the Council; ensuring the regulatory compliance of the installations with any present and future legislation; the provision of an online portal where the generation and export data (where applicable) can be viewed and downloaded and the management of Cornwall Council's FiT portfolio including submitting meter reads. The portfolio must be managed by a competent account manager with the relevant skills. The maintenance service covers 78 rooftop arrays, 3 ground mount arrays (including the 5MW Kernow Solar Farm) and 1 solar canopy distributed across Cornwall. Please see the attached spreadsheet for locations and array sizes. There are also several arrays at various stages of project development and Cornwall Council is committed to installing 2MW of new renewables per year. Therefore, the portfolio of solar PV held by Cornwall Council is constantly changing and the ability to add and remove arrays to the contract is essential. The future mix of solar PV systems will likely include more ground mounted solar PV systems of approximately 1MW in size. Our current supplier provides annual inspections and cleaning of the arrays, a dedicated account manager who project manages all inspections and remedials, access to all necessary online portals to provide oversight of generation and export data (where applicable) and management of the Council's FiT portfolio. The required outcomes are arrays generating their highest potential yield through good management; annual inspections; remedial and compliance works as necessary; clear and accurate recording of energy generation on a live database; and annual reports on array generation and yield. The below are the requirements of the service: • Proper operation of the PV systems • Provide and maintain a controls and monitoring system • Ensure Cornwall Council access to the information produced from the controls and monitoring system and ensure CC is capable of direct receipt of information from the system • Ensure Cornwall Council has access to all generation and export data (where applicable) • Comply with the procedures and requirements set out within