Operation and maintenance (O&M) is a critical element for the long term sustainability of mini-grids and ideally should be planned well in advance of the start of operations.

Operation and maintenance (O&M) is a critical element for the long term sustainability of mini-grids and ideally should be planned well in advance of the start of operations.

Even the best designed mini-grids may fail if O&M is not properly executed. O&M can be managed by the mini-grid utility in-house or contracted out to a local O&M service company. Whichever model is chosen, it is essential that the O&M staff have the required skill, motivation, integrity and relationship with the community.

Training

Staff on the ground must be properly trained, have detailed O&M procedures, and have access to higher level technical specialists as required. The mini-grid's corporate management must ensure that local staff understand and follow the O&M procedures, and give feedback if they have questions or suggestions for improvement.

The management of the mini-grid should implement changes that lead to improvements.

Procedures

The O&M procedures should be available in the local language and ideally should include:

• Emergency response to accidents and fires;
• Emergency response to electricity outages for individual and multiple customers;
• Emergency response for theft and vandalism;
• Standard technical O&M activities;
• Fuel, feedstock or resource management;
• Customer contract signing;
• Revenue collection;
• Reporting of cost;
• Installation and quality control of customer connections;
• Installation and quality control of indoor installations;
• Safety training for customers;
• Basic customer training on electricity usage (note some customers may never have used electricity before); and
• Data collection which may be required under the Environmental Impact Assessment for future environmental audits.

Local O&M activities should be documented properly in pre-defined reporting templates which allow the mini-grid's management to monitor performance.

Corporate management

The management of the mini-grid has to typically perform the following tasks:

• Strategic planning (including planning for eventual upscaling or roll-out of mini-grid systems);
• Accounting, budgeting, and financial reporting (to tax authorities, donors, financiers) and cash flow management;
• Legal compliance;
• Personnel management;
• Monitoring local O&M activities;
• Data management;
• Marketing and sales;
• Stakeholder engagement; and
• Communication and outreach activities.