For Asset Owners

Courtesy of Sun Valley Solar Solutions

Philosophy

As solar professionals, we believe it is our responsibility to see that the systems we build continue to perform for many years after the final commissioning report is signed. This segment of our industry is still developing, and we want to engage with our partners and clients to refine what it means to “right-size” O&M services for systems at every scale.

We have built on the work of the SunSpec Alliance and others to create baseline scopes of work that can be customized according to the asset owner’s needs. The different requirements of asset owners, financiers, site specifics, and deployed technologies make this challenging to standardize absolutely, but regardless of the variations, all systems need a basic level of service to stay within warranty and continue producing electricity.

We advance the maturation of the O&M marketplace by elevating the workforce through technician training; minimizing transaction costs for asset owners via a single point of contact; and mitigating risk by growing the network of companies who are able to perform work to these standards.

Courtesy of Radiance Solar

Client Profile

The services of the cooperative may be most valuable to an asset owner who:

  • Manages a portfolio of solar PV systems which are each between 500 kW and 20 MW and/or a fleet of residential systems;
  • Operates in more than one state or region, and
  • Aligns with our core values of cooperation, reliability, fairness, and long-term thinking.
Courtesy of Radiance Solar

How it Works

  • An asset owner may choose to work with a single member-company as its primary point of contact, to streamline the experience. This member-company will identify the system specifications and sites, refine the scope of work, set appropriate pricing, and ultimately sign the legal agreement (the cooperative itself will not countersign agreements). That primary member-company will coordinate with the regional member-companies to schedule preventive and corrective maintenance site visits, thus keeping travel costs and response times to a minimum. The regional member-companies will perform this work according to a general operating agreement.
  • If you have an existing relationship with one of our member-companies, you can simply contact them directly to request a proposal. If not, and you would like to receive proposals from multiple members as a way to select your primary point of contact, you can contact the cooperative directly or submit the “Request a Proposal” form here. 
  • If you prefer, you may work directly with each regional partner. Contact the cooperative for assistance in facilitating an RFP.
  • As a client, you will have access to a portal in our software system, with visibility to each system’s site visit schedule, billing schedule, links to O&M reports, maintenance logs, and the terms of your Service Level Agreement (SLA).  Asset owners will be able to initiate tickets for corrective maintenance through that system, should they so desire.
Courtesy of Radiance Solar

Why work with the Cooperative?

  • Access to a network of 20+ member companies, which span 30+ states throughout the U.S. and western Canada
  • High quality workmanship from trained and vetted member-companies
  • Regionalized expertise, reduced travel requirements, and fewer expenses due to geographic coverage
  • Single point of contact for the whole portfolio
  • Consistent service levels, regardless of the number of companies providing work
  • Standardized reporting
  • Client access to software to track upcoming site visits, invoices, reports, and site-related documentation
  • Internal marketplace for spare parts
  • Redundancy in service providers, which equates to lower risk