The work at a solar farm is far from over once it’s been connected to the grid. For the next 25 to 30 years, the solar farm will produce electricity; but to make sure it can provide optimum amounts of electricity, the system needs to be maintained. Large solar farm projects require substantial amounts of maintenance, which means large maintenance contracts are now up for grabs.  MaxGen Energy Services just won two such contracts.

MaxGen is providing operations and maintenance (O&M) services to Signal Energy Constructors for more than 180 megawatts of Signal Energy’s PV projects. MaxGen has already completed 60 megawatts of O&M services projects for Signal Energy.  Under the partnership, MaxGen will provide daily monitoring, preventive and corrective maintenance, and warranty administration. As such, when an inverter or bank of panels is no longer performing as expected, MaxGen will provide service to address the issue.  Similarly, the company will clean modules in the system when needed, even though some modules may be coated with dust repellants in the near future. 

MaxGen will also provide O&M services to the more than 125 megawatts of PV projects Signal Energy is currently building. "MaxGen's sole focus is maximizing power generation at power facilities, including onsite maintenance, data analysis and performance monitoring. We take the guess work out of power plant performance and can show our customers the real data," said Joe Brotherton, MaxGen's President.

"Our partnership with MaxGen is an extension of Signal Energy's turn-key solutions for utility scale solar projects," added Ben Fischer, CEO of Signal Energy. "Not only does Signal Energy help world-class developers bring large scale, innovative solar energy projects to market, but our partnership with MaxGen allows us take projects beyond completion to maximize power generation."

It’s a big win for a young company like MaxGen, which launched in May 2013. The company boasts more than 50 years of experience on its management team, however. “As solar construction boomed across the United States, owners and developers started looking for independent providers to protect their assets, solar power plants, by verifying and optimizing solar power plant production,” a spokesperson from MaxGen said. "It’s that niche that the company is looking to fill."

"Being able to work independently with a broad range of technologies and companies is very important to MaxGen. Our expertise is maximizing power plant production and that's a valuable service for any solar plant owner, builder or utility," Brotherton stated.