Creating a balance of cost, reliability, and maintainability for utility-scale PV power plants

With the dramatic reductions in PV installed costs in the last decade, CH2M HILL´s staff observes that emphasis is misplaced on cost per installed watt rather than on long-term reliability and plant operations. Installing least cost equipment or ignoring the reliability metrics of equipment can result in higher operating costs and higher costs per delivered megawatt hour. CH2M HILL presents some highlight issues observed during our PV project consulting experience.