True solar underperformance rarely comes from catastrophic breakdowns. Instead, it’s the cumulative effect of routine oversights: missed inspections, inadequate monitoring, reactive maintenance, diffused accountability, and the lack of a long-term lifecycle plan. These issues quietly reduce generation, inflate O&M costs, and erode your ROI. For optimal performance, regular system checks and integrated maintenance are not just important—they’re fundamental.

1) No recent professional health check

What often gets missed: systems that look fine on paper but are actually losing power. This could be due to loose connections, hidden damage to panels, inverter errors that aren’t obvious, or even just dirt and shade that’s worse than you think. If a qualified expert hasn’t thoroughly checked your system in the last 12 to 18 months, there is a chance you’re losing money.

Why it matters: Even a small problem can reduce your system’s output by a few percent without you knowing. Unfixed issues can shorten the life of your equipment. Missing out on warranty claims means you pay for repairs that should be free.

What to do now:

• Get a professional solar system inspection for all your sites. Make sure there is a detailed checklist, photos, and confirm that all issues found are actually fixed.
• Schedule any follow-up checks to confirm repairs are effective.

2) No monitoring or performance reporting (or it’s superficial)

Just having a dashboard isn’t enough. Without expert solar performance monitoring and detailed reports, you’re operating blind and are getting distracted by false alerts and noise. Two common issues: alerts go to a general inbox and no one acts on them, or monthly reports only show total energy produced without comparing it to what was expected.

What good looks like:

• 24/7 monitoring that automatically spots unusual activity, down to individual inverters or even strings of panels.
• Reports that highlight problems and reviews that show how your system is performing against its goals (like uptime, efficiency, and how quickly issues are fixed).
• Clear rules for when to act: for example, if efficiency drops by more than 3-5% over a week or two, it should trigger an immediate investigation.

Why an expert matters: It takes experience to tell the difference between normal changes or false alerts and a real problem, or to spot a small issue before it becomes a big, expensive failure.

3) Reactive service only (“run to failure”)

Waiting for something to break before you fix it is the most expensive way to manage your solar. This approach leads to more lost energy, costly emergency repairs, and equipment wearing out faster. Many problems could be avoided with simple, planned maintenance.

Shift the way you operate:

• Put a preventive and predictive solar O&M plan in place. This means cleaning panels based on how dirty they get (not just a fixed schedule), tightening connections before hot weather, and replacing parts that are known to fail before they cause an outage.
• Use your data to predict problems: for example, if an inverter’s temperature keeps rising even when it’s working normally, or if certain panel strings consistently produce less power, these are early warnings.

The payoff: Planned maintenance is almost always cheaper than emergency repairs. It also helps keep your warranties valid and makes your equipment last longer.

4) No clear accountability (many stakeholders, no owner)

When different companies or personnel are involved (like the maintenance crew, the OH&S team, or the sustainability team), but no one is truly in charge, problems tend to linger. Every high-performing solar portfolio has one clear party responsible for its overall performance.

Put clear rules in place:

• Appoint a single solar asset management company or a dedicated representative who is responsible for coordinating all parties and ensuring results.
• Set clear service agreements (SLAs) for how quickly alarms are acknowledged and fixed, with clear steps for what happens if targets are missed.
• Standardise how performance is reported across all your sites, so you always have a single, clear picture of how things are going.

This is how you grow your solar portfolio without losing control.

5) No long-term service plan

Solar systems are built to last 10 years or more, but many businesses only plan a year at a time. This leads to unexpected costs for replacing major parts like inverters, running out of spare parts, and falling behind on important regulations.

Build a real long-term plan:

• Keep track of all your warranties (panels, inverters, installation work) and their expiration dates. Organise all your documents so you can make claims quickly.
• Plan for when major components like inverters will need replacing and set aside money for it. Upgrading at the right time can actually improve your system’s performance.
• Have a strategy for spare parts, especially for common components, considering how long it takes to get them.
• Include solar safety checks and compliance as part of your overall asset management strategy.
• Project your system’s energy production and costs over its entire lifespan so there are no financial surprises.

What to do this quarter:

• Get a full health check of your solar portfolio from an independent expert.
• Improve your monitoring: get reports that highlight problems, set clear service agreements, and make sure alarms are handled quickly and correctly.
• Create a preventive maintenance schedule that’s specific to each site’s needs, not a generic one.
• Assign one clear person to be responsible for your system’s performance
• Start building a 3-5 year long-term plan that covers warranties, spare parts, major replacements, and compliance, with a clear budget.

If you don’t have the internal team or expertise, bring in a specialist. A focused external review often pays for itself quickly by boosting production and preventing costly emergencies.

Alternatively, we can step in as your dedicated partner. We’ll conduct inspections, improve your monitoring and reporting, and set up a practical maintenance and long-term plan. Let’s start with a portfolio health check.

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