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The UK’s growing O&M sector needs greater standardisation – particularly within its entry-level scopes of works – in order to boost confidence within asset owners.
Vassilis Papaeconomou, managing director at asset management firm Alectris, led calls for standardisation during this week’s ‘Raising Standards in Solar PV Operations & Maintenance’ event hosted jointly by the Solar Trade Association and SolarPower Europe.
Papaeconomou claimed that there was a burgeoning split between EPC firms and O&M providers, with a standalone O&M sector emerging to cater for the amount of solar assets developed in the UK that are both leaving the standard two-year warranty period and changing hands as the secondary market continues to be active.
While this sector is still maturing, Papaeconomou said that there was a “huge” difference in the quality of services offered, and called for standardisation of some services to increase owner confidence in suppliers.
He concluded by stating that a future O&M market would benefit from a greater standardisation of best practice in the industry, where “clarity and consensus” on services from all stakeholders would create “increased and healthy competition”.