Fluke Survey Reveals Growing Trend with 55% of Companies Outsourcing Solar Maintenance, Citing Critical In-House Skill Gap

Fluke Corporation

Wed, Apr 2, 2025, 8:34 AM 4 min read

55% of companies surveyed outsource the majority of their solar maintenance
In the U.S. that figure is 54% compared to 60% in Germany and 48% in the UK
75% of companies indicate they will continue to outsource maintenance
In the US that figure is 71%, with Spain and Germany reaching almost 90% and the UK 58%
30% of companies admit their maintenance strategy is either reactive or non-existent
Nearly 60% highlight lack of training for technicians on use of advanced diagnostic tools

A growing number of companies across the U.S. and Europe are strategically outsourcing solar equipment maintenance, driven by a critical shortage of specialized skills and resources within their organizations. This trend, highlighted in a recent survey by Fluke Corporation, a leader in industrial tools and integrated software, underscores the increasing challenge of building in-house expertise to support the rapidly evolving solar industry.

The survey, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Fluke, reveals that 55% of OEMs, technicians, and installers across the U.S., UK, Germany, and Spain, are outsourcing more than half of their solar maintenance activities. Notably, in the U.S. and Spain 54% of companies are strategically turning to external partners for their solar maintenance, highlighting a widespread reliance on third-party expertise in the face of growing skill gaps. In Germany, this figure rises to 58%, while the UK reports 48%.

The Fluke survey highlights significant regional differences in the future outlook for solar maintenance, with Germany consistently leading as the largest outsourcer. Looking ahead, the trend of outsourcing maintenance is poised to accelerate, with 75% of companies across the surveyed countries planning to continue or expand external partnerships. While 72% of US companies expect to continue outsourcing in the coming years, nearly 90% of surveyed businesses in Spain and Germany are expected to be at the forefront of this trend. In contrast, the UK lags behind with just 58% of companies anticipating continued reliance on external providers, signaling a potential gap in the adoption of this strategic approach.

“This survey clearly exposes the global skill and resource gaps in solar maintenance, underscoring a critical challenge for the industry,” said Alex Chillman, Fluke Vice President of Innovation. “Outsourcing maintenance has become the norm, and our findings show that this trend is not only widespread but set to continue as the preferred approach for the majority of companies. What stands out is the strategic divergence between countries, each adopting different models for maintaining solar infrastructure. "This underscores the need for a region-specific, forward-thinking approach to talent development and resource allocation, focusing on streamlining workflows for maintenance staff and supporting the growth of new technicians as they progress in skills and specialization."

In order to reduce downtime and improve reliability, a little under 60% of companies surveyed say their main focus would be to train technicians on the use of advanced diagnostic tools. Similarly, more than half (53%) of companies indicate that implementing predictive maintenance would be a solution while just under half would prioritise on-site diagnostics and streamlining data collection tools.

In the UK, focusing on data collection protocols is deemed to be the most important issue in reducing downtime and improving reliability for 56% of companies, with training a fraction lower at 52%. In the U.S., the priorities are reversed, with 60% of companies especially eager to train more technicians and just 46% looking to focus on data collection protocols. This option is particularly low in Germany at 38%.

The Fluke survey sought the view of more than 400 OEMs, technicians and installers across the U.S., UK, Germany, and Spain. Of those surveyed, 45.6% were technicians, 36.5% OEMs and the rest installers. Nearly 63% were based in the US and just over 12% in each of the UK, Germany and Spain. Respondents in companies with 100 to 249 employees were the biggest group represented in the survey at 33%, followed by 25% with between 50 and 99 and 21% with 250 to 500 workers. The rest were evenly split with either one to 49 employees or more than 500.

To learn more about Fluke solutions for the solar industry, please visit https://www.fluke.com/en-us/products/electrical-testing/best-solar-energy-industry-tools.

About Fluke

Founded in 1948, Fluke Corporation is the world leader in compact, professional electronic test tools and software for measuring and condition monitoring. Fluke customers are technicians, engineers, electricians, maintenance managers, and metrologists who install, troubleshoot, and maintain industrial, electrical, and electronic equipment and calibration processes.

FLUKE is a registered trademark of Fluke Corporation. For more information, visit the Fluke website.

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