Centrica has bought a California-based solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company.

Vista Solar, established in 2008, has so far delivered 40MW of projects to more than 160 customers across the public and private sectors.

The company will form part of Centrica’s Distributed Energy and Power business, which provides energy insight, asset optimisation and energy solutions to large users.

Jorge Pikunic, Global Managing Director for Centrica Business Solutions said: “Solar is a key technology for businesses in California and represents an important opportunity for us to grow our footprint in one of the largest economies in the world.

“Combining Vista Solar’s impressive track record with our own in-house capabilities in energy insight, demand management and onsite generation and storage puts us in a unique position to help more organisations in North America to take advantage of the changing energy landscape.”

Earlier this year, California became the first state in the US to require solar panels to be installed on new homes and apartment buildings from 2020.