Dive Brief:
- Three solar companies, SunPower, First Solar and SunEdison, control 44% of the country's operations and maintenance market, according to a new report from IHS titled Solar EPC and O&M Providers Report - North America - 2016.
- PV Magazine reports on the findings, noting that all of the leading companies are vertically-integrated organizations dealing with aspects from system development to manufacturing and integration.
- SunEdison, however, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, meaning a change in those rankings is coming. The company faced excessive debt levels after a series of acquisitions.
Dive Insight:
As solar capacity grows, so will the budgets to operate and maintain those assets. Right now, almost half of that market is controlled by three companies, though those standings are likely to change in the upcoming months.
According to IHS' report, First Solar controls a quarter of the market, which includes 1 MW systems and up. SunEdison is on the books for 11%, and SunPower rounds out the top three with a 7% market share.
PV Magazine notes that new North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards are being put in place as solar systems become larger, with new regulations (targeting systems 75 MW or larger) expected to impact abut 7 GW of solar capacity currently under development.
While the vertically-integrated nature of the top companies would seem to indicate an advantage, it's unclear how SunEdison's bankruptcy changes the equation. The renewables company doubled its debt load within about a year, to $11.7 billion by the end of September 2015, as it acquired projects and companies on six continents.
With the extension of the investment tax credit for solar systems, the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research are predicting the industry's strong growth will continue through 20202, though some of the 15 GW of new PV previously forecast for this year could be delayed until 2017.
The ITC extension is expected to result in a 20 GW annual solar market in the U.S. by 2020.