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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.
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