Jan 23 2013
Swinerton Renewable Energy, a leading builder and service provider in the solar utility industry, has expanded their services to include comprehensive operations and maintenance (O&M) services for any North American solar facility.
Swinerton Renewable Energy has a strong track record of photovoltaic (PV) facilities management, with O&M services comprising performance monitoring and alerting, parts management, service ticketing, reporting, preventive and corrective maintenance, warranty administration, and site maintenance, including vegetation mitigation and module washing. Historically, Swinerton has only offered service contracts on PV sites they constructed. Repeated client requests for such value-add services on sites that Swinerton did not construct led to the company's decision to expand into the broader solar market.
Strong Demand for Solar Facility Services
Within days of expanding their service offerings, Swinerton Renewable Energy validated market demands by signing a service contract for a large solar plant in Texas being built by another company. Swinerton has also already expanded services to clients on the East Coast. While many other service providers occupy the solar market, Swinerton Field Operations Supervisor Angelo Purpura says, "We offer more of a utility-scale approach and the mindset of contractors, because we have tremendous experience building and operating these types of facilities. Our in-depth technical and electrical knowledge allows us to provide our customers with significant advantages with highly trained, experienced service personnel."
Swinerton already commands a significant solar O&M portfolio, with service contracts on more than 600MWdc. Most contracts include availability and performance guarantees, which offer customers significant financial security. Such guarantees were a significant advantage cited by K Road Power in their recent decision to award Swinerton a 10-year O&M contract for the future 340MWdc Moapa Solar Plant in Nevada, which Swinerton will also construct.
Performance Optimization Is Critical
An added incentive to using Swinerton's O&M service is access to their SOLV™ monitoring system. SOLV™ is a proprietary, utility-scale SCADA system providing monitoring, utility control, alert and dispatch management, site performance comparison, and data analysis. The system identifies any performance detriments and empowers Swinerton to operate facilities at optimal levels. "It's one-stop shopping," says Manager of Technical Services Joe Brotherton. "With SOLV™, we're able to offer unique performance guarantees, because we have a deeper understanding of what it takes to optimize performance of PV sites based on data collected and managed through our system. Once a baseline is established, we can work to optimize performance and offer different levels of performance guarantees."
Throughout its 125-year history, Swinerton has established strong partnerships with clients across a wide range of industries, including a robust presence in the renewable energy market. Clients are welcoming this expansion of service offerings as an added benefit to manage their diverse solar facility portfolios.
Source: http://www.swinerton.com/