Industry-leading technology on the front lines of new energy project data
With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the USA’s clean energy future is no longer in question. However, the solar and wind industries face major development challenges such as interconnection queue congestion and acquisition of land for new projects. As a result, renewable projects in the lease or queued stages are highly desired by energy companies looking to expand their asset portfolio or find competitors in a specific area of interest.
Want to go even more in-depth? Check out the recording from our webinar on the topic from June 2023:
Developers utilize GIS to visualize projects on a map, but there is still a clear need for a solution for obtaining the data and mapping queued or leased projects. LandGate’s PowerData solution allows energy professionals to view the full pipeline of energy projects, from site control to operational projects. Developers can view specific parcels on a map associated with a lease or parcels under queued projects.
How can developers find solar lease agreements?
One of the first stages of any renewable energy project is a lease agreement between the project developer and the landowner. These agreements are typically kept confidential until the developer completes their initial assessment and has a chance to grab as much site control as possible in the area before making the project public.
The leases are eventually filed in county records and LandGate’s unique process aggregates these records, allowing for simplified searching of which properties have already been leased. This unique information allows for developers to avoid potentially competitive areas, or alternatively, provides an avenue to acquire existing leased or queued projects from other developers.
Energy professionals are able to access the aggregate of early stage project data, thus saving time and resources. Instead of manual research, they can instead obtain access to the prepared data and streamline the acquisition process. Energy investors seeking to purchase renewable rent and royalty opportunities (the landowner’s cash flow stream from the lease agreement) can also take advantage of this data by contacting early stage landowners receiving lease payments. Meanwhile, buyers are able to receive notification of willing renewable rent and royalty sellers posting their deal on LandGate’s PowerLeads platform and are also able to query for site control projects and the associated landowners under those projects.
Identifying properties under site control
"Site control” refers to properties that are leased by a solar developer. Before a project even enters the queue, LandGate analyzes county tax assessor records to find lease agreements already in place between developers and landowners. The dataset is continuously updated by a process that locates new lease documents within days of new agreements being filed with each county. This provides an advantage for developers to avoid competitive areas that can lead to congestion or challenges in capacity planning. Developers are often on an urgent timeline to get new lease agreements in place, entering the interconnection queue, and getting clean energy on the grid.
The data provides developers with insights into interconnection queue projects allowing them to find and analyze projects with details on operator, queue status, and site control. The available site control data provides developers with the most comprehensive view of where future projects could be developed and who will be developing them. Users can click on the map to view the details of the site control agreement to instantly see who has established site control on the property and any documents associated with the option agreement. The data includes the operator, the status of the project, PPA details, project start dates, associated documents, and much more.
Many organizations are seeking properties where site control has already been established. For developers using this strategy, LandGate’s PowerCapital solution provides direct contact information for the developer. Companies can contact the developer to inquire about partnership or acquisition opportunities. Users are able to view entire portfolios of their competitors to compare their process and gain insights into potential strategies.
Queued Projects
The next stage in the development process includes entering the interconnection queues for utility and transmission planning. Queue data is often disjointed and details are not often provided such as project owner or operator, point of interconnection, or the location of the project. PowerData compiles all of the data and joins these datasets to provide unique and comprehensive data for mapping projects in the queue.
Rather than simply locating an address for a potential project, LandGate maps out the entire boundary of a proposed solar farm. This process gives developers clear insights into the size of potential solar projects and which properties are unavailable. The dataset also provides intelligence for M&A to capital groups and large energy companies looking to acquire queued projects.
LandGate’s PowerCapital unmasks LLC’s to help energy companies understand who to contact to potentially acquire a project already in the queue. The dataset provides a picture of counties with many projects already queued and which counties are primed for new projects. LandGate compiles interconnection queues from ISOs and RTOs, providing a complete picture of queued projections throughout the USA, all in a single, standardized database.
All active solar farms currently generating electricity are also available. Click any farm on the map to view the owner, date the project went into operation, and view the farm's generation history.
A Leading Technological Solution
Interconnection queue congestion is a challenge for solar and wind development. Developers rely on unique data to make critical decisions. Utilizing LandGate’s PowerData solution ultimately saves time and money. Developers can identify viable projects, assess potential sites, avoid congested areas, and streamline development. Contact our team to learn more or schedule a demo with one of our Energy Markets professionals.
