Cypress Creek Renewables announced the opening of its solar control center in its flagship Research Triangle Park, North Carolina office. Out of the Cypress Creek Control Center (C4), the company operates 232 utility, distribution and rooftop-scale solar facilities totaling nearly 2 gigawatts in 14 states across the country.

The opening of its new control center marks a significant milestone for Cypress Creek as the company expands its operations and maintenance services for third-party customers and signals its unique ability to operate secure solar sites and maximize production.

“We are thrilled to announce our Cypress Creek Control Center in our flagship Research Triangle Park office,” said Matthew McGovern, CEO of Cypress Creek. “Operations and maintenance is an important and growing business for the solar industry and for Cypress Creek. We now have the team, infrastructure and technology to deliver exceptional customer service and system performance.”

The C4 is just one of a handful of North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) – Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) compliant control centers in the country operated by a solar-only company. The C4 was designed to meet NERC’s most stringent cyber security and reliability requirements. To meet the new compliance level, Cypress Creek hired 22 people over the past three months.

Services offered by Cypress Creek’s 60-Person Operations and Maintenance team include:

• 24/7/365 Operations. The Cypress Creek Control Center is the heart of our operation, ensuring that our solar fleet is diligently monitored at all times. From the C4, operators quickly identify and initiate corrective actions in coordination with our field technicians and operation engineers.
• Predictive Maintenance. Dedicated engineers and technicians work to optimize daily performance at sites, utilizing aerial thermography and state-of-the-art technology to identify and correct site level anomalies. Cypress Creek’s O&M team has a nation-wide network of technicians and engineers capable of maintaining and repairing solar components.
• Vegetation Management. Our team of vegetation technicians and managers work tirelessly to mitigate safety risks while optimizing system performance. Whether the site requires standard grass mowing, pollinator friendly habitats or sheep grazing, Cypress Creek caters to the unique demands of each solar site and region.

“As solar has become a larger part of our electricity mix, we recognized the demand to expand our business,” said Joe Brotherton, executive vice president for operations and maintenance. “From deploying the latest technology for asset optimization to strengthening our solar sites against cybersecurity threats, we are proud of the services that we are now able to offer our customers.”

News item from Cypress Creek Renewables