Solar handover pack checklist: what your client should get on day one
· 5 min read
A handover pack is the only part of the job your client keeps for the next 25 years. Most of what goes wrong later, like a refused claim, a missing serial or a dispute over dates, traces back to what was missing from it on day one.
What the standards already expect
Internationally, IEC 62446-1 sets out the information and documentation that should be handed to a customer after a grid-connected PV system is installed, alongside the commissioning tests that prove it is safe. In the UK, MCS publishes its own handover checklist for solar PV.
Asset-management guidance for solar plants adds the part owners rely on most: an asset register listing the manufacturer, serial number and warranty for every key component, kept as a single source of truth.
The checklist
1. System details: site address, system size, installation date and commissioning date. These are two different dates, and warranty and grid paperwork often key off the later one.
2. An equipment register, one line per unit: category, manufacturer, model, serial number, rating, location and condition at handover.
3. A photograph of every nameplate, tied to its line in the register, so any value can be checked against the label without a site visit.
4. Warranty per unit: start date and length, because two inverters on one job can carry different terms.
5. Certificates and test results: commissioning results, grid approval and scheme certificates, datasheets and manuals, all listed so nothing is missing.
6. Sign-off: who prepared it, who received it, and the date.
Where packs usually fall short
Items 2 to 4 are the ones that go missing, because they depend on reading every label on site. Everything else is paperwork you already have. When the serials are typed up later from phone photos, the register comes out incomplete or wrong, and nobody notices until a claim fails.
What Baton covers
Baton builds items 1 to 4 and 6 from the photos your crew takes on site. It produces a cover with installed and commissioned dates, a register with every nameplate photo beside the details it states, warranty per unit, an index of attached certificates, and a sign-off block. You get it as PDF, Excel and CSV in your own Google Drive.
Baton does not replace electrical test results. The cover says so plainly, so attach your commissioning results alongside it.
Quick answers
- What should a solar PV handover pack include?
- System details and dates, a register of every unit with manufacturer, model and serial number, nameplate photos, warranty per unit, certificates and commissioning test results, and a sign-off. Baton produces the register, photos, warranty lines and sign-off from on-site photos.
- Is the installation date the same as the commissioning date?
- No. Installation is when the kit went up; commissioning is when it was tested and signed off, often weeks later. A good handover records both.