What is Root Cause Analysis? Why is It Important for O&M Techs?

When something goes wrong on a solar or battery energy storage system, the fastest fix is not always the right one. Hitting a reset, swapping a component, or clearing a fault code without understanding why it happened in the first place is one of the most common mistakes O&M technicians make in the field. Depending on what’s actually behind the fault, it can also be one of the most dangerous.

That’s where root cause analysis comes in. Root cause analysis is a structured approach to problem-solving that pushes technicians to look past the symptom and ask: what actually caused this? A tripped breaker might be the visible problem. But the root cause could be a failing inverter, a wiring issue, a thermal event, or something else entirely. Without identifying the true source, that fix is temporary at best and hazardous at worst.

In solar PV and BESS service work, accurate diagnosis is the job. As systems grow in scale and complexity, and as battery storage raises the safety stakes, the technicians who can diagnose accurately and fix things right the first time are the ones companies want running jobs.

In the video below, Amanda Bybee of Amicus O&M Cooperative talks about why root cause analysis is one of the most valuable frameworks in the new Solar PV and BESS O&M Tech 2 Training course on HeatSpring, and why she keeps hearing this concept come up again and again in real-world field conversations. If you’re looking to build a stronger, more capable O&M team, Tech 2 is the next step.

Transcript below.

 Brit: What’s one thing that maybe you’ve seen or heard technicians consistently struggle with that Tech Two is addressing for them?

Amanda: Hmm. There is a unit in here on root cause analysis, which is an interesting one because I think the concept of root cause analysis is great at an academic level. I think it’s probably one of those things that when you’re out in the field and you’re trying to figure out an issue, you don’t maybe document the seven steps of root cause analysis in great detail.

But I think talking about a concept like root cause analysis is a really helpful framework for people to teach them. The very critical thinking skills that go into here is the problem, but the problem is a symptom of these other items that are actually behind it. How do I peel back the layers to get to the true root of it all?

One of the big messages in a root cause analysis unit is – don’t just hit reset if you don’t know what the true source of the problem was. What’s funny is that ever since I reviewed that unit, I have heard that concept come up a number of times  in conversations and at conferences. Don’t just hit reset if you don’t really know what the issue is.

I feel like it’s a great example of a theoretical concept that may not get implemented in the field exactly as it’s presented, but it is nonetheless a valuable framework to help people think about that critical thinking, that assessment process,  so that we get all the way to the heart of a problem and fix it right the first time, rather than putting a bandaid over it or hitting reset, which can ultimately be a very dangerous thing to do if the true source of the problem was correctly caught by some sort of over current protection device and then you try to bypass it to restart the issue, you can actually cause a lot of harm. So it’s a great example of theory that can help stop a field problem before it gets worse.