Solar has no moving parts, which is true and misleading. Inverters have fans, connectors corrode, panels get dirty, batteries age. A service contract exists because somebody has to own that list for eight years.
Key facts
- Dirty panels cost 5–15% of output in dusty regions; cleaning is the most valuable maintenance task.
- Inverters are the most likely electronic failure; fans and capacitors before year eight.
- Connectors and cable glands fail from heat and salt — inspected twice a year on the coast.
- Batteries lose capacity with cycles and heat; monitoring shows the trend years before failure.
The maintenance calendar
- Monthly: panel cleaning in dusty or harmattan seasons, visual check of cabinets and cables
- Quarterly: inverter filters and fans, connector torque and corrosion check, battery capacity trend review
- Yearly: thermal imaging of strings and boards, refrigeration service, alarm and backup test
- Continuously: IoT monitoring of output, uptime and temperature, with alerts to the service team
Why it's in the fee
Under Energy-as-a-Service, Frontières Bay owns the equipment, so maintenance is our cost and our motivation: if it isn't producing, we aren't earning. Customers who buy outright can take a separate maintenance contract or use their own trained engineer — we train them at commissioning.
What monitoring changes
Most failures announce themselves weeks ahead: a string producing 8% less, a compressor short-cycling, a battery cell drifting. Remote monitoring turns those into a scheduled visit instead of an outage.
Want maintenance to be somebody else's problem?
Talk to Frontières BayFrequently asked
Do panels need replacing?
Rarely before 25 years; output declines slowly and is warranted by the manufacturer.
Who maintains a system I bought?
Your trained engineer, or an FBE maintenance contract with remote monitoring included.