SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—(eSolarEnergyNews)—REC Solar, a solar solutions provider and energy partner for businesses, today announced that its operations and maintenance (OM) business has surpassed 175 MW under contract. This milestone represents a 12-fold increase in OM business since 2009 and reflects surging market demand for high-quality end-to-end solar solutions that ensure ongoing solar performance.

In addition to providing OM for its existing solar customers, REC Solar was one of the first companies to serve projects built by other solar developers. By complying with a range of technical standards, REC Solar can provide OM services for complex systems that many other companies have steered away from. Recent OM deals include a 13 MW system in California where existing tracking technology required a more robust solution.

“More and more solar customers are learning that ongoing operations and maintenance is a critical part of REC Solar’s high-quality end-to-end solar solutions,” said Al Bucknam, REC Solar CEO. “Over nearly seventeen years of developing, installing and maintaining more than 400 commercial systems, REC Solar has developed a wealth of best practices to help everyone from national retailers to family farms get more out of their systems.”

“REC Solar’s high-quality services help customers maintain, and even increase, the value of their PV systems over time. For example, we recently boosted the performance of a customer’s five-year old 10 MW rooftop portfolio above levels achieved even at the very beginning of the system’s lifespan,” said Mike Borger, Senior Portfolio Manager at REC Solar. “These returns are gaining notice across the market, as much of our strong growth has come from becoming ‘foster parents’ to systems built by other contractors.”

REC Solar’s OM division achieves performance increases by evaluating historic performance, modeling performance, leading a detailed review of underperformance events and developing mitigation plans. This methodology has helped customers consistently exceed projections for energy production and availability.

According to GTM Research, the global market for OM will exceed 88 GW by the end of 2014, and is expected to nearly triple by 2018.