Power Factors acquires Canadian consultancy Arista Renewable Energies
US renewables performance management software firm Power Factors has acquired Montreal-based consultancy Arista Renewable Energies. The deal will see Power Factors’ service offering bolstered by Arista’s highly technical industry knowledge and performance optimization expertise.
Canada produces a larger share of its energy from renewables than OECD countries on average – deriving 18.1% from renewable sources in contrast to the OECD average of 9.6%. And though 67% of renewable energy comes from Canada’s numerous hydroelectric plants, a growing proportion of electricity is being sourced from wind and solar projects. Canada has seen steady growth in its wind power generation capacity since the mid-2000s, increasing capacity from under 1,000 megawatts (MW) in 2005 to 11,908 MW in 2016. Meanwhile, solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity has developed from almost non-existent supply in 2005 to a capacity of 2,663 MW in 2016.
The growth in wind and solar generation in Canada has, unsurprisingly, spurred demand for consulting services within the renewables industry. Montreal-based Arista is one such specialist firm, offering services related to the optimization of operational performance within wind energy projects. Additionally, the consulting firm offers preconstruction analyses – including yield reports, contract negotiation, and due diligence. Arista has provided consulting services to clients across Canada, the US, Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
The Canadian consultancy, founded only three years ago, was acquired last month by Power Factors – one of the US’ largest providers of renewable energy management software. Power Factors’ ERP software integrates wind/solar performance data with operational workflow, while automating business processes. The San Francisco Bay Area-based firm currently supports and monitors over 23 gigawatts of solar and wind projects, servicing some of the world’s largest and most successful clean energy companies.
Power Factors believes that Arista’s renewables-specific operations consulting expertise will bolster its ability to service the performance improvement needs of renewables industry clients. "Arista's highly-technical industry knowledge and performance insights perfectly complement Power Factor's data, analytics and portfolio management services," commented Dave Roberts, Power Factors Senior Vice President. "The collaboration between our two companies will further propel Power Factors towards becoming a world leader in the operational and performance monitoring of renewable energy projects."
Commenting on the acquisition, Arista President and Co-Founder Francis Pelletier said, “Working with Power Factors will allow us to widely demonstrate our highly-technical and unique capabilities in renewable energy advanced analytics. This collaboration will also allow us to utilize their expansive PF Drive Software as a Service (‘SaaS') platform to provide powerful visualization of power plant events impacting production and advanced analytics to drive actions which will improve performance over the life of the assets.” Pelletier concluded, “Our combination gives owners and operators a set of tools to improve plant performance and maintain visibility over workflow and actions taken by their field operations teams.”
Power Factors has stated that the deal will result in significant expansion and hiring within Canada. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
