One of the leading solar PV module manufacturers in the world, First Solar, is now in the process of acquiring Skytron Energy — a German company with the 4th largest fleet of monitored solar PV projects in the world.
A subsidiary of AEG Power Solutions, Skytron Energy has installed monitoring and control systems in over 600 solar plants across Europe — for a total peak capacity of 5 GW. That’s more than a doubling of First Solar’s current portfolio of monitored assets.
While it looks like the acquisition is very likely to go through, there are still some potential obstacles — the acquisition is subject to consent by the German merger control authorities. The exact terms of the deal haven’t been released yet.
Solar Power World provides a bit more information:
The acquisition supports First Solar’s initiative to provide full, end-to-end energy solutions that vertically integrate solar services and solutions. It broadens First Solar’s portfolio of energy assets operated and maintained by the company and establishes an opportunity to offer additional value-added services to both existing and new customers in Europe.
“Skytron brings considerable strategic value to our global O&M offering, as well as a pathway to expand our services across the entire solar value chain,” explains First Solar’s vice president of operations and maintenance, Bob Callery. “Our combined expertise enables power plants to operate with the reliability of conventional generation resources, further establishing solar as a given part of the global energy mix.”
In related news, Skytron Energy (very) recently successfully commissioned its park controller at the new 15.2 MW Bambous solar plant in the Rivière Noire district of Mauritius.
The park controller at the heart of the solar project provides “a highly flexible control scheme incorporating pre-programmed, automatic control functions that provide active and reactive power capping; maximum ramp rate; frequency control based on power shifting; voltage stabilisation; and reactive power setpoint control.”
Sounds good.
