Powering the Future by Dismantling the Past: Solar’s End-of-Life Evolution

PES: Welcome to PES Solar, it’s great to have you with us. Let’s start with where Everpoint Services is positioned right now in the solar asset lifecycle.

Tyler Goodell: Everpoint is an independent energy services company specializing in demolition and remediation work to support the renewable energy assets in Lower 48. Our services include solar decommissioning, repowering and remediation, as well as wind turbine decommissioning and recycling work. We also offer site preparation and enhancement services tailored to client needs.

By the end of the 2024 calendar year, we had 84 technicians actively working in the field. Everpoint operates a corporate office in Houston, Texas, and maintains a warehouse facility in Wichita Falls, Texas. We are one of the few pure play end-of-life management companies in the United States.

PES: End-of-life services in solar cover a lot of ground, from decommissioning to repowering. Where are you most active at the moment?

Candace Wood: We are currently seeing a significant increase in remediation and repowering work on existing solar assets, which has surpassed the volume of full project decommissioning. This trend is largely driven by the improved cost-benefit ratio that comes with strategically upgrading specific components, such as inverters, modules or racking systems, rather than dismantling entire sites. Asset owners are becoming more focused on maximizing the remaining value of their installations, especially as performance issues emerge over time.

By targeting underperforming or outdated equipment, we’re able to extend the operational life of these assets in a financially and operationally efficient way, often without the regulatory and logistical complexity of starting from scratch. This shift reflects a broader industry move toward lifecycle optimization rather than wholesale removal.

PES: There’s often a decision to be made between full removal, remediation or repowering. How do those conversations usually take shape?

David Grobe: We commit to full transparency with our clients, especially regarding field operations and the financial cost implications of the full removal of a project, a partial remediation of the site or a full repower. When we do this our clients can run the economics of what makes business sense for each project in their portfolio of assets.

This economic conversation goes hand in hand with our operational presence. For a service company, this level of openness becomes a standard that redefines performance, making it impossible to return to anything less than best-in-class.

PES: As sites age, things like inverter performance, racking stability and module degradation become more critical. Which of those tends to lead the process?

CW: Performance economics leads everything we see, apart from safety issues. Solar sites must be producing electrons to make the asset owners’ investment make sense. If inverters or modules are clearly under producing electrons, the site has to undergo a remediation or repower and, in some cases, a full decommission.

PES: Some systems are built to last, while others are not. Are there common patterns you see when evaluating older infrastructure?

CW: We are seeing wear and tear on equipment and infrastructure build which makes sense. These assets have been exposed to harsh elements for many years. We also see installation practices that may have made sense several years ago that require adjustments for current construction or deployment errors that require attention.

PES: Repowering often involves navigating existing grid connections and permits. How do you approach those legacy advantages?

CW: Repowering legacy solar sites presents a unique set of advantages and challenges, particularly regarding existing grid interconnections and permitting. We treat these elements as critical assets in the planning phase. Every project begins with a comprehensive site assessment, where we evaluate both the physical infrastructure and the administrative groundwork already in place. From there, we establish a clear operational timeline and a realistic, transparent budget that reflects the client’s specific goals.

One of the most important steps is mapping out the permitting landscape early. If the site conditions allow, we break down the entire scope of work into detailed tasks so we can identify permitting requirements and initiate those requests well in advance of mobilization. This proactive approach ensures we avoid unnecessary delays and align our engineered solutions with both regulatory expectations and site constraints.