By Solar Land Partners

04/04/2014
There is a great disparity in the US between the solar farm developments that have matured in the US, especially in California and New Jersey, over the past several years and the newer markets now in fast growth such as Georgia, North Carolina and Massachusetts. In the newer regions of the country and in the mid-West several Utility Scale (defined as >1MW and selling power to the grid) Solar projects are under development by developers performing this task for the first time. These groups are especially benefited by work from Solar Farm Development Consulting groups using their experience and expertise from fighting this battle in California.
The successful solar farm development requires simultaneous expenditure and effort on the three key legs of the development phase:
1. Permitting and working toward a CUP with the associated city or county where the solar project is located
2. A complicated procedure and many times costly and lengthy interconnection agreement with the associated Utility
3. Acquiring a PPA with a utility, a virtual net metering agreement with different public or private groups, and or a SREC sales agreement in Eastern states. This differs greatly on the location of the proposed solar project of course.
In order to complete these tasks simultaneously with lowest cost and in the shortest amount of time subject matter experts are needed by the developer in these areas:
1. Permitting
2. Interconnection agreements
3. System design
4. Financial modeling
5. PPA acquisition
6. Legal documents for development and possible acquisition
Assembling experts with these prior skills in one team at the start is many times difficult, so it is often best to hire a Solar Farm Development Consulting team to handle those tasks not covered by the present development team. Our experience is that this approach allows the successful development to proceed and be successful while the present development group builds up their strength for later projects.