Clearing the path to utility-scale solar

Building a utility scale solar plant isn’t easy. Utilies may be eager for power purchase agreements to buy electricity to meet state renewable energy mandates, but project developers must navigate permitting, financing and technical challenges and often spend millions of dollars on projects that never make it past the planning stages.

Borrego Solar says it can help. The solar photovoltaic design and installation firm has been providing consulting services and feasibility studies for utility-scale solar projects for a few years. On Tuesday, the El Cajon, Calif.-based company announced that it has provided consulting services for more than 180 megawatts worth of in-the-works utility-scale solar projects. 

“We can help reduce the learning curve and save them money by identifying pitfalls,” says Brian von Moos, Borrego’s director of solar consulting.

Borrego’s feasibility studies include cost estimates, site analyses, financing recommendations and assessments of potential challenges. Project developers can either purchase services individually to tackle specific problem areas or buy a package of consulting services to guide them through the stages of their projects, most of which are between two megawatts and 50 megawatts in size. 

So far, most of Borrego’s consulting customers are power plant developers and Fortune 500 companies looking to do portfolio projects, von Moos says. But getting help with the process is no guarantee that a project will ever get up and running. 

“Even the projects we work on don’t have a high success rate,” Von Moos says. “It’s not easy to win a PPA and execute a project.”