Design Choices That Define Lifetime Performance

When a renewable energy project is being developed, capital costs naturally drive most design decisions. Layout, equipment selection, and construction choices are often shaped by the expectation to optimise upfront investment. Yet once the plant is built, operation and maintenance quickly become the main drivers of performance and value. In reality, the long-term valuation of a renewable asset depends far more on how effectively it can be operated over time than on how efficiently it was constructed.

Why O&M Should Start at the Design Stage

Operational problems rarely stem from a single major failure. And even when they do, a competent Operator will be prepared to respond quickly and restore the system safely. Identifying potential single points of failure, and being ready to address them, is admittedly a key responsibility for all operators. More often, however, operational issues arise from small decisions made early on: equipment that is hard to access, CCTV systems that are significantly underdesigned, inverter models that quickly become obsolete or cannot be replaced with compatible alternatives due to their unique characteristics etc. Individually, these choices may seem harmless. Over time, they add up to higher costs, longer downtimes and increased safety risks.

Once a plant is built, many of these issues are difficult—or impossible—to fix. After all, O&M costs are often treated as just one small line in the P&L. That is why thinking about O&M from the design stage is so important.

Access and Safety

Specially on solar projects, one of the most common challenges during operations is simple access. Inverters installed too close together, combiner boxes mounted at inconvenient heights, narrow – or even missing – roads that cannot support maintenance vehicles, insufficient row spacing between panels or limited peripheral access for ground maintenance can turn routine work into a logistical challenge.

Good O&M-driven design ensures safe and straightforward access to all equipment, adequate spacing for maintenance activities, and access roads that remain usable year-round. When access is well planned, maintenance is faster, safer, and far less disruptive to production.

Choosing Equipment

Equipment selection is often guided by the upfront price. From an operational perspective, reliability, consistency, and service availability are just as important. Over the long term, proven technologies with local support tend to deliver better value than marginal purchase gains. After all, equipment supplied with 12 or 24-month warranties, raises valid questions about its suitability for assets expected to operate reliably for 30 years or more.

Security & CCTV

Security systems are frequently treated as a compliance checkbox rather than a critical infrastructure. Underdesigned CCTV systems, poor-quality cameras, insufficient coverage, or designs limited to the installation of fibre-optic cabling without fully integrated surveillance leave sites exposed to theft, vandalism, and delayed incident response. In the long term, insufficient security design can contribute to higher costs, elevated insurance claims, and unnecessary operational disruptions. Ultimately it becomes only a matter of time before such assets struggle to secure insurance coverage at all.

Conclusion

Designing for O&M from day one is one of the most effective ways to secure long-term performance and asset value. It does not necessarily mean higher costs, but it does require a shift in perspective—looking beyond commissioning and thinking about how the plant will actually be operated for decades. By addressing accessibility, equipment selection and site security – just to name a few – developers can start building assets that are safer, more reliable, and easier to manage over their entire lifetime.

Written by Konstantinos Triantafyllou