ESCO Acquires Renewable NRG Systems

ESCO Technologies Inc. announced it has acquired NRG Systems, Inc., doing business as Renewable NRG Systems, located in Hinesburg, Vermont.

NRG, founded in 1982, is a designer and manufacturer of decision support tools for the renewable energy industry, primarily wind. NRG serves electric utilities, wind turbine manufacturers, renewable energy developers, research institutes, and government agencies in more than 150 countries.

The business, which will join Doble Engineering as part of ESCO’s Utilities Solutions Group (USG) operating segment, has annualized sales of approximately $45 million (with nearly half of its sales coming from international markets) and operating margins in the mid-teens.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

NRG’s expertise spans both resource assessment products and wind plant optimization equipment such as turbine control sensors, Lidar, and condition based monitoring systems. The products are used during both the predevelopment stage of a project and the operational stage when project owners need to optimize the performance of their assets.

The company’s products and applications are targeted at the following market segments:

• Wind Resource Assessment which is the systematic collection of wind data at potential wind farm sites to allow wind farm developers to estimate the future power output of a variety of wind farm sizes and turbine arrangements. Customers use this information to design the layout of the wind farm, secure project financing, and make other critical decisions.
• Wind Plant Optimization enables wind farm operators and owners to maximize their annual energy production, reduce their operating and maintenance (O&M) costs, increase system reliability, and drive down the levelized cost of energy.
• Solar Resource Assessment is the systematic collection of solar data at a prospective solar energy production site to develop an accurate estimate of that facility’s annual energy production potential.
• Solar Monitoring allows solar project operators to track electrical output precisely in order to trigger real-time maintenance and build long-term preventative maintenance programs.

Bryan Sayler, President of Doble, commented, “The addition of NRG offers Doble the opportunity to access the growing renewable energy market, expand our geographic presence, and provide our existing customers with proven tools to optimize their renewable energy generation assets.”

Justin Wheating, President of NRG, commented, “Becoming part of ESCO further strengthens our ability to grow through the continued investment in new products and the expansion of our existing technologies into new markets. We are excited about our future and pleased to join a company that shares our core values and demonstrates its strong focus on customers and employees.”

Vic Richey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Adding NRG to our existing utility segment introduces a unique and exciting growth opportunity for ESCO. NRG’s capabilities are a great complement to Doble’s product and solution portfolio providing an immediate entry point into a large and growing market. Clean, renewable and sustainable energy is a $300 billion-plus per year global industry where approximately 600 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity and 700 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV capacity is expected to be added over the next 10 years. NRG is clearly a market leader with an exceptional brand, reputation, and strong management team, and I’m excited to welcome the outstanding and dedicated employees of NRG to our team.”