Project development
Eight Mistakes Costing Solar Developers More Than Bad Policy Ever Will
Site access, offtake, scope packages, and post-mortems. The operator lessons that decide whether a project makes money.
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Eight mistakes costing solar developers more than bad policy ever will.
01. Pouring money into a project before answering the hard questions
Can we access the site? Can we interconnect? Can we permit?
That's not development. That's gambling.
02. Developing projects with no clear path to offtake
If you don't know who's buying the power, you don't have a project. You have a hobby.
03. Nobody cares about your brag-a-watts
20 GW pipeline. 40 MW annual build. You're not building a business. You're burning development capital.
Know what's real. Kill what isn't. Early.
04. Giving bidders garbage and expecting gold
Incomplete scope packages, missing geotech, unclear site constraints.
The bids aren't wrong. Your scope was. Then you blame the EPC.
05. Selecting the cheapest bid anyway
The low bidder wins the contract. Change orders eat the difference.
You saved 10% on the bid. You lost 30% on the build.
06. Picking a COD to close the deal
Not one you can actually hit. Then reality shows up. The LDs don't care why you're late.
07. Making the same mistake on project fifteen as project one
No post-mortems. No feedback loops. That's not experience. That's expensive.
08. Not visiting the site
Seriously.
These lessons are expensive. Don't learn them the hard way.
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