Solar Asset Management Asia

1.(to Alectris Japan) Next Energy Holdings and Alectris recently announced a remarkable joint venture to address the Japanese solar market. Can you explain how the companies are planning to work together and what services you will provide to the market?

(How?)The joint venture entity is called Alectris Japan Ltd.  By combining the best in class solar asset care services, software and expertise of Alectris with the proven local market expertise of Next Energy & Resources Co. the company serves solar PV plant owners and operators in the region. These customers include global portfolio owners with assets in Japan and Japanese developers with assets in other countries.

(What Services?)Services offered by Alectris Japan Limited include solar PV operations and maintenance (O&M) and asset management.  Software and new technologies related to performance enhancement for existing sites are also being brought to the Asia market through the joint venture.  These include ACTIS, the Alectris award winning Solar ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software now active in over 313 megawatts globally and new solar optimization technologies currently being tested in the European market.

2.(to Next Energy) Why is Alectris the perfect partner for this joint venture?

We have come to know each other through SAMA event 2015.After having demonstration for ACTIS, we were very impressed for its capability, and started discussion for forming JVCo. We believe company’s advantage is integration of Alectris’s experience in Europe and our knowledge and expertise in Japan, which may compensate each other.

3.(to Alectris) Why is Next Energy the perfect partner for this joint venture?

Japan is one of the most dynamic solar PV markets globally with 20 gigawatts put into operation in the last three years and another 70 in development. By aligning with the highly experienced solar PV team at Next Energy, Alectris is able to enhance service offerings while benefiting from the Next Energy local expertise.  The combined strengths of the joint venture deliver important economies of scale to developers particularly those with large portfolios looking to increase operational efficiency.

4. (to Alectris Japan) What will be the focus Alectris Japan in the coming two years? How will you distinguish your service offering from other players in the market?

Alectris Japan Ltd. brings a unique combination of global expertise and local experience to the solar developers in Japan.  Both joint venture partners have expertise developing and constructing large scale photovoltaic plants. So the first distinction is the ability to truly relate to the developer’s position and understand the functionality of the PV plants.  Second, the company is able to translate a global track record in solar O&M and asset management combined with the regional knowledge of the local team to each solar PV plant.  This is huge advantage for solar developers to have the confidence in local expertise with the specific O&M, asset management capabilities gained in more mature PV markets. Third, the joint venture brings the world’s first solar ERP to the table.  ACTIS is a single login, integrated software platform for solar monitoring, O&M and asset management.

5. (to Alectris Japan) The Japanese O&M and Asset Management segment is developing and still quite immature compared to Europe and North America. What are the three most important improvements that have to take place to professionalize these services in Japan?

The Japanese O&M and Asset Management segment is now being substantially accelerated by the implementation of lessons learned and capabilities earned from the other regions you mention.

Three improvements include:

1. Implementation of integrated solar monitoring, O&M and asset management software.  ACTIS brings all monitoring applications together into one login accessible platform.  This represents a significant improvement over standalone software solutions and a huge improvement over spreadsheet reporting.

2. Greater transparency into incidents and ability to react cost effectively.  Incidents related to plant performance can be diagnosed and addressed with actions informed by a larger dataset of information.

3. The ability of suggesting improvement plan, for example, it’s important for suggest value-up services/products for Japanese customers.

6. (to Alectris Japan) Everybody in Japan talks about the FIT going down to 24Y/kwh and probably less in the future. What will be the impact of this on the market and how will you be dealing with this?

As the result of drop in FIT rate, we anticipate new large scale develop will decrease. To the contrary we expect expansion in Secondary market, and ownership of the plants will be consolidated to the Infrastructure Fund. We believe change of the ownership will be the great opportunity to review O&M services provider, and we will actively propose our services at that timing.

7. (to Alectris Japan) Alectris Japan is the Diamond sponsor of this year’s Solar Asset Management Asia conference, taking place in Tokyo. How do you see the role and the value of this conference in the Japanese solar market?

As the result of expansion of Infrastructure Market, we believe necessity of the ‘True’ Asset Management will be revisited. We consider it is meaningful that SAMA will be held at this timing, and taking this opportunity, we would like to expand the concept and necessity of Global Standard based O&M to Japanese Market.