Bay4 Energy sells Ekhosoft software to Power Factor

Bay4 Energy has sold its Ekhosoft software platform to Canadian solar software giant Power Factors.

The Ekhosoft platform manages events, assets, processes, KPI calculations and contains the tools for data mining and analysis. Bay4 will still use the software to monitor the its own projects.

Power Factors, a solar software provider for monitoring, managing and optimizing renewable energy assets, believes that offering Ekhosoft to its customers will enhance its own set of tools.

“It’s our mission is to give customers the tools they need to drive their power plants – drive results, drive their service providers, drive bottom line economics, said Steve Scales, EVP and co-founder of Power Factors. “This acquisition gives us a deep development bench which will continue to innovate and push forward what we believe is already the most fully integrated and robust set of tools in the industry.”

The combined companies will manage nearly 19.5 GW of solar and other renewable energy projects under management in 2017.

As part of the agreement, Bay4 retains a long-term license to utilize the combined technology platform to deliver its industry-leading asset management, O&M, monitoring, O&M management, engineering and research services.

Though all M&A activity is worth watching (particularly with large- and medium-sized companies) software-company deals are of particular interest because of what monitoring technology will mean for the industry’s long-term health.

The solar industry continues to grow rapidly, and mergers and acquisitions are becoming more commonplace. Combined with the ever-increasing need for installers and developers to understand systems at a granular level, better software solutions are essential.

Good monitoring software allows companies to understand in real-time whether their projects are producing the expected output and allows developers to fix minor problems before they become major problems than can take down an entire project.

The cost savings in operations-and-maintenance further reduce project costs, making it ever-more affordable for utilities, businesses and homeowners to install solar.

Bay4 says that it believes the collaboration between Ekhosoft and Power Factors engineers will serve the maturing solar industry — and its company — well.

“Combining these two powerful technology platforms enhances Bay4’s capability to better serve our customers through augmented event management and comprehensive asset performance assessments,” said Clay Biddinger, chairman and CEO of Bay4 Energy.