Strong generation doesn’t always mean a healthy solar farm.
How HIT combined monitoring, thermography and targeted DC testing to uncover hidden faults and lost generation on a large ground-mounted solar asset that was still producing strongly overall.
The site was generating. That wasn’t the same as saying it was healthy.
Overall production remained strong, but HIT’s inspection and monitoring approach looked below the headline output. The deeper view exposed several unrelated defects that a simple generation-meter check could easily miss.
Thermal connector damage
Thermography and inspection identified heat damage at DC connector terminations, including a connector that had already suffered thermal failure.
Non-performing strings
Sample DC current testing found multiple circuits contributing little or no current, reducing available generating capacity even while the wider asset remained online.
Insulation faults
Targeted insulation-resistance testing confirmed separate DC cable faults that required investigation beyond the array itself.
MPPT / input fault
One apparently non-producing string generated normally when moved to another input, helping isolate the problem to an inverter tracker rather than the PV string.
See what the inspection revealed.
A ground-mounted solar asset can continue generating while individual components and strings need closer attention. These survey views show how HIT looks beyond the headline output.
Thermal images record conditions at the time of inspection. Temperature readings alone do not establish the cause of a defect; HIT combines them with electrical testing and site history.
Monitor. Identify. Investigate. Repair. Verify.
Different faults can produce the same symptom: lost generation. HIT uses site history and live data to decide where the engineering investigation should go next.
Don’t replace a buried cable until the evidence points there.
The next investigation stage is to run temporary DC test cables directly between the inverter position and the affected array sections. This bypasses the existing underground cable route.
If the circuit returns to normal through the temporary run, there is strong evidence that the buried cable route is the source of the fault rather than the array or inverter.
Fault finding should narrow the problem down before major remedial work begins.
This case study is anonymised. Customer and site names, exact location, inverter labels and serial numbers are withheld. The selected survey images are shared without identifying captions; technical figures are rounded where appropriate.
Do you know whether every part of your solar asset is contributing?
HIT combines independent monitoring, engineering inspection, fault finding and remedial work to help commercial and utility-scale solar owners understand what they actually have — before deciding what they need next.
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