Utility E.ON is venturing into the operations and maintenance (O&M) market in North America via a new company, E.ON Energy Services.
The new company will offer asset management, maintenance and repair services for solar and wind generators in North America in what it said was an “under-serviced market”.
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“Supporting project owners and investors to get more performance, efficiency, and revenues from their projects is at the core of E.ON Energy Services. We'll leverage nearly a decade of experience to offer a one-stop shop to small, mid-size, and big customers alike,” said E.ON's North American chairman Patrick Woodson.
Woodson said the company would be able to offer customised O&M services to different types of project owner.
“For more passive owners, we can perform site and balance of plant management during warranty periods all the way to full asset management services. For more active owners, we can supplement current efforts on major repairs, inspections, or long-term maintenance to keep infrastructure investment costs down,” said Woodson.
The growth in utility-scale solar deployment in North America, particularly in the US, is set to make it the world’s second largest solar O&M and asset management market by 2018, according to recent analysis by GTM Research.
GTM predicted the O&M space would become increasingly consolidated as larger players look to enter what has until now been a relatively fragmented market.
E.ON’s move would seem to reflect that prediction, with the company noting that despite the growth of the solar and wind markets in North America, there were relatively few “nationally active” service providers.
