First Solar’s Energy Services was named the leading Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service provider in the solar industry according to a newly published report from GTM Research and SOLICHAMBA Consulting, Global Solar PV O&M 2017-2022: Markets, Services and Competitors.

This the fourth year in a row that the company has earned the top spot in the report, which, according to the SOLICHAMBA website is the solar industry’s only comprehensive analysis on global solar PV operations and maintenance (O&M) services, markets, and competitors.

First Solar took the top spot with its total of 6.3GW under management globally as of July 2017. This number continues to grow as business is expanding beyond First Solar-developed assets. More than 60 percent of new business in the last year came from third-party contracts as more customers want First Solar's expertise to manage their assets.

"While we take great pride in being #1 in total market share, our impeccable safety record and the validation we receive from our customers as being the best-in-class is where our core focus is and will continue to be into the future," said Troy Lauterbach, VP Energy Services

Lauterbach believes First Solar is well positioned to maintain its lead in 2018. "We have the best team in the industry and we will continue to invest on our people in order to sustain our past success into the future,” he continued. "Our ability to drive reduced costs through innovation and technology will help us maintain our market leadership position in the future."

According to the report website, the 210-slide report analyzed global markets and included 128 vendors accounting for 76 GW of monitored PV capacity in operation. Reviewed markets featured 14 countries on four continents including Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, U.S., Canada, China, Japan, India, Australia, Chile, Mexico and Brazil.  The full report is available here.

To learn more about First Solar’s Energy Services, visit http://www.firstsolar.com/PV-Plants/Energy-Services.