Beyond the Equipment: Solar That Fits Your Operations and Finances
Grid-independent solar offers a no-brainer return on investment (ROI) for rural businesses and organizations, such as ranches, farms, wedding venues, wineries, hospitality operations, land-based nonprofits, and more.
In addition to slashing power bills, our solutions outage-proof your operations because they work regardless of the grid’s status. Most of our clients achieve a payback time of five to seven years in power bill savings alone — without counting the cost of cancellations, missed opportunities, and running backup generators.
However, with so many things already on your plate, finding time to research options, work through your budget, make equipment decisions, and manage the logistics of a sizable infrastructure project can be challenging.
Well, we do solar differently. Rather than showing up with a clipboard and asking, “How many panels do you want?” we start from the beginning.
We work with you to discuss your needs, current setup, budget, priorities, and operational calendar. We work with you and your team to decide equipment placement, guide you through site preparation, and coordinate with your builder and electrician when needed to get things done. Let’s review how we run this process to reduce your mental and operational load.
Lay the foundation with thoughtful discovery and engineering
We start each project with an assessment and solution engineering. We analyze your load requirements, electrical setup, terrain, the site’s solar production potential, and site layout. If you’re converting a grid-tied system to a grid-independent one, we evaluate your existing equipment to see what we can reuse to lower costs.
However, the technical aspect is just one part of the equation. We also discuss your objectives, priorities, preferences, and budget. For example, we can implement a system in phases, building resilience for operation-critical equipment first while designing an upgrade roadmap to minimize disruption when budget becomes available for subsequent work.
The resulting document provides data-driven insights and implementation options to guide decision-making. We’ll walk through the proposed solutions with you, help you weigh the pros and cons, and identify a plan to inform project scope, timeline, and equipment selection.
The engineering phase typically gives us enough clarity to produce a fixed-fee, no-surprise scope so that you don’t have to worry about large, unexpected expenses.
The assessment and documentation also provide the information organizations (e.g., land-based nonprofits) need to raise money or identify funding sources. For example, this wild horse rescue raised the required funding without dragging out the timeline thanks to an accurate assessment and estimate.
Design a plan for long-term ROI and sensible implementation
With the engineering documentation in hand, we weigh various factors with you. Besides technical requirements, we consider operations and finance to optimize your investment. Here’s what we typically address:
Budget and timing. How much can you invest now, and should you plan for a phased implementation so that you can start lowering your power bills and build resilience sooner rather than later?
Existing infrastructure and electrical setup. We consider how the site’s electrical setup impacts the cost and feasibility of solar system design. For example, we may recommend a slightly less cost-efficient solar solution to save you tens of thousands on rewiring the existing setup. For clients with an existing solar system, we also evaluate the long-term total cost implications of reuse vs. repair vs. replace.
Total cost of ownership (TCO). We help you make decisions with the lifetime cost of running a system in mind. For example, buying more battery capacity may increase your initial investment. But it lowers total costs over the next 20 to 30 years because you won’t be straining the batteries as much, which shortens their lifespan.
Operational continuity during implementation. We can typically implement a grid-independent system without shutting off utility power for most of the time. However, we do need to do so a few times when we work with your electrician to connect the system to the electrical panel. We coordinate with you and your team to accommodate your operational needs and minimize disruptions.
Your calendar. We review your business’s seasonality, peak periods, programs, staff availability, events, and more to schedule implementation around your operations.
Phasing… or eating the elephant one bite at a time. Committing to a large project is daunting, budget-wise or scope-wise. We design an implementation roadmap and break the project down into stages to fit your funding, staff availability, budget considerations, and expansion plans. Our modular design approach enables us to minimize waste and disruption when you’re ready for the next stage.
We manage the moving parts so you don’t have to
Professional project management is key to worry-free, on-time and on-budget delivery. We’ve got that covered so you don’t have to juggle twenty balls in the air:
Scope and timeline management. We set expectations, communicate dependencies, coordinate scheduling, and keep you up to date on the progress.
Equipment delivery. We orchestrate equipment delivery and safe storage with you or your team.
Site preparation and solar panel frame build. We guide your builder or staff members to handle trenching, ducting, equipment site prep, frame build, and panel mounting.
Electrical work. We coordinate with your electrician to ensure the solar appliances are connected accurately to your electrical setup.
Reporting. We provide proactive, regular updates as the project progresses to keep you in the loop.
Handoff and monitoring. We coordinate an on-site system handoff, answer questions over text or email, and provide post-implementation monitoring.
Your “get it done” partner in grid-independent solar implementation
We’re with you every step — helping you maximize available resources, lower TCO, and build long-term resilience to design and build a solar solution that works for your business or organization. Get in touch to see what’s possible with a partner who thinks along with you.
