How To
Summary
Corrective and Preventive Maintenance Work Orders serve two distinct purposes in solar plant operations. Corrective Maintenance is reactive and is created only after a fault or abnormal condition occurs. It cannot be scheduled because failures are unpredictable, and the primary goal is to quickly restore equipment to normal working condition. In contrast, Preventive Maintenance is proactive and follows a predefined schedule to keep assets in optimal health. It aims to reduce unexpected breakdowns by performing routine inspections, cleaning, testing, and other periodic checks. Together, both maintenance types ensure reliability, efficiency, and continuous performance of solar plant equipment.
Objective
The objective of this document is to clearly differentiate between Corrective Maintenance Work Orders and Preventive Maintenance Work Orders to help users understand:
- When each type of work order should be created
- The triggers and characteristics associated with each maintenance category
- How scheduling and prioritization differ between corrective and preventive activities
- How both maintenance approaches contribute to reliable solar plant operations
This clarification ensures that maintenance teams create work orders accurately, follow the correct procedures, and maintain equipment health effectively.
Environment
- Application: IBM Maximo Renewables
- Modules: CMMS
- Scope: Creation, tracking, and execution of both Corrective and Preventive Maintenance Work Orders for all plant assets.
- Use Case: Maintenance of asset in Plants, Fault addressing and avoid downtime
- User Roles: Site Engineer, Asset Manager, Operations Manager and Service engineer.
Establishing a consistent method to document maintenance activities, prioritize issues, and maintain reliable asset performance across all solar plant locations.
Steps
1. Corrective Maintenance Work Order (CM / Breakdown WO)
Corrective Maintenance refers to all maintenance activities performed after a fault, failure, or abnormal condition has already occurred.
Key Characteristics
- Triggered by an actual fault observed in the solar plant (e.g., inverter trip, string failure, communication loss, abnormal generation, etc.).
- Cannot be scheduled in advance, because the failure is unpredictable.
- Created reactively based on:
- Alarms
- portal alerts
- Fault diagnosis
- Manual
- Work must be executed immediately or at the earliest possible time to restore normal operation.
- Helps in restoring asset functionality back to normal working condition.
When Creating a Work Order
- Work Type: Corrective / Breakdown
- Scheduling: Not applicable (unscheduled)
- Trigger: Fault event
- Priority: Generally High/Urgent depending on severity.
2. Preventive Maintenance Work Order (PM WO)
Preventive Maintenance refers to maintenance activities that are planned and executed at predefined intervals to prevent failures before they occur.
Key Characteristics
- Triggered by a predefined maintenance schedule (weekly/monthly/quarterly/annual PM plans).
- Helps ensure assets are kept in optimal operating condition.
- Reduces unexpected breakdowns by addressing issues proactively.
- Scheduled tasks may include:
- Inverter cleaning and inspection
- Transformer oil level/temperature checks
- String combiner box inspection
- Module cleaning schedule
- Thermography and electrical testing
When Creating a Work Order
- Work Type: Preventive
- Scheduling: Mandatory, based on the PM calendar or PM plan
- Trigger: Maintenance cycle
- Priority: Planned (not urgent unless PM detects anomalies)
Additional Information
For example:
When is a Corrective Work Order created?
It is created based on a fault, such as:
- Inverter failure
- String outage
- SCB malfunction
- Communication loss
- Low or abnormal generation
These issues are not predictable, so they cannot be scheduled.
When is a Preventive Work Order created
It is created according to the plant’s PM schedule, such as:
- Monthly/quarterly inverter inspection
- Routine Module cleaning
- CCTV, Fire Extinguisher
- SCB and transformer health checks
These tasks are planned and scheduled in advance.
Document Location
Worldwide
Product Synonym
Maximorenewable; Prescinto; CMMS; Workorder;
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Document Information
Modified date:
02 March 2026
UID
ibm17262063