| What I found as one of the most important elements when developing a solar project, is finding the right piece of land. As the saying goes, location, location, location; expect you will need about four (4) acres per megawatt. In this case, you are looking for land that you can lease or buy and has an excellent interconnection point. The best-case scenario is with a substation on the property with enough wattage availability. The next step is obtaining a PPA with the utility company. If possible contact a developer who has done a project with the same utility to have insight into the best process when applying for the PPA. |
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| The next consideration is the equipment. Who is the best supplier, and what are the best prices? In general, most of the suppliers are qualified to manufacture your equipment needs; it is more a matter of putting good contracts in place to cover you so that you can perform to the PPA or contract you have with the end-user or energy supplier. A good agreement allows you to get the equipment in a timely fashion at a reasonable price based on market pricing at the delivery time. |
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| Another essential aspect of each solar project is financing. In the last few years, this has become much easier than it was before 2011. When going out for funding, you need to consider the many types of financing and deciding what works best for you. Types of financing to consider are construction and term, conventional, senior first-lien debt, leveraged, asset-based, reserve-based, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions |
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