Pioneering partnership seeks to shorten equipment lead times and provide superior value and support
Eclipse Power, independent distribution network operator (IDNO), has formed a partnership with Power Engineering Services (PES) to give customers faster access to substation equipment – cutting typical lead times from several months to as little as a week.
Eclipse becomes one of the first IDNOs to adopt and maintain restored substation equipment including transformers, reflecting its determination to accelerate grid connections for customers through flexible new routes to delivery. The move comes as substation supply chains remain under sustained pressure from increased demand, long lead times, and shortages of new UK stock.
Under the partnership, customers can access restored and new substation equipment with significantly shorter lead times, competitive pricing and an extended three-year warranty. Equipment can be purchased directly through PES or through Eclipse as part of its connection offering.
PES has built its business on restoring and upgrading transformers and substation equipment rather than scrapping serviceable assets, cutting both cost and environmental impact without compromising on performance. Restoring an asset from its stock takes around four days, compared with 14 to 20 weeks for a newly manufactured transformer sourced from overseas. Much of PES’s stock originates from sources parts of the industry have traditionally overlooked, including cancelled projects, decommissioned temporary supplies and manufacturers’ surplus.
For Eclipse, the partnership adds another practical route to faster energisation at a time when grid capacity constraints remain the biggest barrier facing developers. Ben Croxford, COO at Eclipse Power, said: “We’re always looking for ways to remove the barriers that slow projects down, and equipment lead times are one of the biggest. Partnering with PES means we can offer customers a faster route to connection – without compromising on quality.”
The first projects under the partnership are already in planning, with both organisations expecting the model to help accelerate energisation across a range of sectors. Ben Whitaker, managing director of Power Engineering Services, said: “At PES, our job has always been to stop good equipment going to waste and get it back into the network faster than a new order ever could. Partnering with a respected company like Eclipse shows the value of our solutions in the IDNO market, and being their first partner says a lot about how aligned we are as businesses.
“That shared outlook is what makes this partnership work. It means we can apply what we do – restoring equipment with 40–50-year lifespans that would otherwise be scrapped after a few years – at a much greater scale, and translate that directly into faster connections for customers, with fewer of the delays that hold projects up across the country.”
PES also offers wider services including operations and maintenance, design and SAP support, which Eclipse can refer customers to as needed.
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