Solar energy. It is one of the most sustainable ways to generate energy. And whilst private individuals have been embracing it en masse for years, businesses are making the biggest contribution. And particularly for the latter group – we’re talking about parks comprising thousands of solar panels – maintenance is of the utmost importance. Eelco Hoogduin is director at Zonnepark Services Nederland, the market leader in maintaining these large parks.
Solar energy is nothing new to Eelco. He has been active in the sector since 2012, and after gaining considerable experience, both nationally and internationally, he took up the post of director at Zonnepark Services Nederland in July 2021. And whether it concerns large solar parks on rooftops, on the ground or even on various bodies of water, they have the perfect solution for maintenance.
From Utrecht to Zuidbroek
The energy market is far more complex than it initially appears, as quickly becomes clear in conversation with Eelco. “The operators of large solar parks must report their expected energy yield on a daily basis. Factors such as the design of the installation and the weather play a major role in this. If sufficient energy cannot be supplied – for example, due to a fault – the missed production must be purchased at an imbalance price. This means that a fault has a direct impact on the bottom line. Not only do you lose revenue, but you also have to make additional purchases, often at higher rates,” explains Eelco.
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Zonnepark Services has people in the field to resolve faults and thus save a lot of money. “We have various SLAs with our customers to get everything up and running again within an agreed timeframe. Incidentally, that is also one of the main reasons we use GPS trackers in our fleet. We need to be able to plan quickly and intervene swiftly. If a report comes in at half past four that a transformer isn’t sending data, we can immediately see on the screen who’s in the vicinity. We take care of the rest,” Eelco continues.
The focus is on nothing but maintenance. This means there are no distractions; the managers focus on one thing and they do it well. And the monitoring and management of the company is carried out from Utrecht. The second location is in Zuidbroek. Maintenance is organised and planned from there. This may involve a preventive inspection or repairs in response to reports.
Sustainable and efficient
As Zonnepark Services focuses on maintenance, and there are over a thousand solar panel installers in the Netherlands, the emphasis is on efficiency. “We want to work sustainably and run an efficient operation,” says Eelco.
“We also receive many enquiries about projects that have not been constructed to a high standard. It is difficult to guarantee performance on poorly built installations. Our focus is on solar parks and commercial rooftops, for example at the Maasvlakte or logistics centres in the Eindhoven region. That starts at around 5,000 panels. Our larger clients have around 80 to 90 hectares of panels. That means we maintain around 300,000 solar panels.”
Finding high-quality staff is certainly a challenge, but has never been a problem for Zonnepark Services to date. Eelco: “We do see that the rest of the market is struggling. But we’re creative and find people in ways other companies aren’t looking at. We simply do things better than the rest. That’s the trick.”
And it makes sense that the organisation covers a fair few miles to achieve this. A satisfied Eelco concludes: “We don’t want to burden our mechanics with the hassle of recording mileage. Nor do we want to burden the tax authorities, for that matter. That’s why we’ve now organised our mileage tracking via TrackJack. It’s handy, works well and makes our planning much more efficient.”