DENVER, March 22, 2016 – As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, TurningPoint Energy and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) announce the integration of their work to further assist student-led teams to generate university foundation investment in solar photovoltaic energy. The partnership, beginning in March 2015, strengthens university support as TurningPoint Energy’s project development and finance expertise guides teams through the roadmapping process.
Headquartered in Custer, Wisconsin, the MREA promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency through education and demonstration. In addition to offering renewable energy training and certificate programs, the MREA works with partnering higher education institutions – including the University of Minnesota, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Illinois State University, and Purdue University – to advance solar deployment at higher education institutions across the United States.
“This process is not just an administrative initiative, it is truly led by an integrated group of campus leaders in the form of professors, students, management and staff which maximizes value for each participating university,” said Nick Hylla, Executive Director, MREA. “We are encouraged by the progress of these projects and look forward to engaging with more universities to replicate this forward.”
TurningPoint Energy’s role in the partnership is to advise university teams on project financial structuring, engineering, procurement, construction, and investment. “Our work with MREA highlights how TurningPoint Energy can help clients navigate the creation of solar projects as a completely independent advisor,” said Jared Schoch, Principal of TurningPoint Energy. “We have engaged deeply with partnering universities, providing them the ‘insider’s guide’ to how solar project development and financing really works and how to quickly qualify and develop projects organically from the inside out.”
TurningPoint Energy’s expertise in solar photovoltaic project development, project financial structuring and procurement has already proved extremely useful to university teams during one-on-one meetings at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory last November. During the visit, TurningPoint Energy helped teams with the priority site selection process, modeling system design, and identifying financial opportunities.
Next month, TurningPoint Energy and the MREA will again be engaging university teams through technical assistance at the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference in Baltimore, MD, April 3-5. In addition, opportunity information will be on display during the pre-conference workshop, “Ramping Up Renewables,” Sunday, April 3, from 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm and followed by a networking social.
Leading up to the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference, Schoch will be presenting a webinar, “Working with a PV Developer to Make PV Investments on Your Campus,” March 31, at 1:30 pm CDT. The webinar will focus on structuring solar development teams, best practices for developing projects, and university financial options for PV investment. For more information, please go to www.solarendowment.org/webinars.
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Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA)
The MREA was founded in 1990 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization promoting renewable energy and sustainable living through education and demonstration. Today, the organization still upholds those ideals as they work with universities, communities, and residents to advance renewable energy investment and deployment. For more information about the MREA, please visit www.midwestrenew.org . For information on university solar assistance, visit www.solarendowment.org.
TurningPoint Energy
TurningPoint Energy is a clean energy advisory, development and investment company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Its principals have experience developing solar projects totaling more than $1.7 billion in value over 540MW of operating solar power plants throughout the United States in the last nine years. TurningPoint Energy is structured as a privately held, lean company with some of the lowest overhead and profit requirements in the energy industry, the ability to make decisions quickly and customize our projects to each customer’s needs. For more information about TurningPoint Energy, visit www.turningpoint-energy.com.