Global megawatt-scale PV O&M market to surpass 390 GW by 2020

Nov. 25, 2015

Boston, MA. According to a new report from GTM Research and SoliChamba Consulting, “Megawatt-Scale PV O&M and Asset Management 2015-2020: Services, Markets and Competitors,” the global market for utility-scale PV operations and maintenance (O&M) will reach 390 GW by 2020, almost triple the estimated 133 GW by the end of 2015.

“Just like the larger PV market, the global PV O&M market has been growing at a fast pace these past few years,” said report author Cedric Brehaut. “And unlike the EPC [engineering, procurement, construction] business, it remains attractive even when new construction slows, as seen in Germany, where the addressable O&M market for megawatt-scale plants exceeds 11 GW in 2015 despite a drop in new megawatt-scale plant activations.”

More than half of the world’s O&M market has arisen in the last two years alone. The report identifies the distinct characteristics of markets where new installations remain the primary O&M opportunity as in the U.S.—versus countries where most of the addressable O&M market consists of older plants as in Germany and Spain.

The report breaks down operations, maintenance, and asset management into three distinct services within the solar industry and analyzes the competitive landscape for each of these segments. While many vendors offer all these services, asset management remains distinct from O&M, in most cases. The report notes a major trend of decoupling between operations and maintenance, with half of analyzed O&M providers reporting different megawatt counts under operations compared to megawatts under maintenance.

“With a single vendor providing both asset management and O&M, there is no duplication of supervision and reporting functions, so arguably this results in lower staffing costs for managing the same asset portfolio,” said Brehaut. “But there are real risks that a ‘one-stop shop’ provider may not defend the interests of the owner as fiercely as would an independent asset manager.” A new trend also shows increased separation between operators and maintenance providers in certain markets because the two functions require very different competencies and infrastructures.

As the market grows, new competition emerges. GTM Research and Solichamba Consulting segments the market into nine distinct provider types: project developers and EPC companies, utilities and IPPs (independent power producers), investors, vertically integrated firms, inverter companies, independent service providers, and affiliated service providers. Each category has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The forecasted 390 of O&M GW by 2020 will be served by a variety of business models and vendors.

This new report from GTM Research and SoliChamba Consulting considers 76 vendors managing over 40 GW of megawatt-scale PV assets in aggregate, and analyzes the PV O&M and asset management market of 15 countries around the world.

About the Author

Rick Nelson | Contributing Editor

Rick is currently Contributing Technical Editor. He was Executive Editor for EE in 2011-2018. Previously he served on several publications, including EDN and Vision Systems Design, and has received awards for signed editorials from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He began as a design engineer at General Electric and Litton Industries and earned a BSEE degree from Penn State.

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