Electrum has passed 4 GW of renewable generation capacity covered by its operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts in Poland, the company said. Less than a year ago the serviced portfolio stood at close to 3 GW.
Electrum did not break the portfolio down by technology, name individual clients or disclose contract values. The company said the figure is a measure of scale rather than the main point, arguing that operational asset management is now gaining importance as quickly as new capacity is being built.
The shift follows the age profile of Poland’s renewables fleet. Much of the country’s onshore wind and solar capacity was commissioned over the past decade and is moving beyond original manufacturer warranty periods, which typically opens the way for independent service providers to compete for maintenance work. Operators are also under growing pressure to squeeze availability and yield out of existing assets rather than rely on new build alone.
Poland’s service market is set to change again as offshore capacity comes online. Baltic Power, the country’s first offshore wind farm, is preparing for roughly three decades of operations from its service base in Łeba, and further Baltic projects are expected to follow. Offshore O&M runs on different economics and a different skills base to onshore work, but it is drawing on the same domestic labour pool that onshore and solar service contractors are already competing for.
