About Us
TurningPoint Energy (TPE) is a clean energy development, advisory and investment company headquartered in Denver, Colorado with team members in Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington D.C. We are proud members of CCSA, SEPA, MDV-SEIA, NECEC, and MREA.
Our History
Formed in 2013, TPE is a privately held company with some of the lowest overhead and profit requirements in the energy industry. This lean approach gives TPE the ability to make decisions quickly, and to customize projects to the unique needs of each client.
Our team of seasoned energy industry professionals have collectively originated, developed, financed and/or built over 2 Gigawatts (GW) of the solar projects operating in the U.S. today.
Independent & Self-Funded
TurningPoint Energy is completely independent and self-funded, with no investors and no requirements to use others’ products or services. Our company’s low overhead and expenses translate into the lowest prices for our clients.
Adaptable Project Development Approach
TPE understands that large-scale solar development requires more than a cookie cutter approach. We adapt our approach to the custom needs of each client and project. Part of our flexibility is our independence: TPE is not chained to a particular technology or financing. Instead, we source the right technology and financing for each client and project.
Utilities tell us that no other company is more reasonable with which to negotiate or build projects than TPE.
Our Mission
Founder and principal Jared Schoch created TurningPoint Energy to fill what he saw missing in the solar industry: a company people like to work for, clients enjoy working with and a workplace that balances purpose and happiness to transform the energy industry — at every turning point.
Our Team
Accomplished Team of Seasoned Industry Professionals
TPE’s team has demonstrated renewable energy industry experience in the full cycle of large-scale solar project development, including executive management, origination, land development, project finance, design, procurement, construction and operations and maintenance.
Because our principals, advisors and partners are seasoned solar industry professionals, we understand the complexities of large-scale solar development. TPE commits to only four to six projects at a time to ensure we deliver on our commitments to each client, and sustain a balance that enables our team to truly enjoy our work, our clients, each other and our personal lives. Our clients value the speed with which TPE executes, the veteran expertise we bring to every project, our ability to customize projects to clients, and to deliver every time with the highest level of integrity
Jared Schoch, Founder and President
Jared Schoch is the founder and president of TurningPoint Energy, and leads a team of veteran solar development executives focused on developing large scale solar and related clean tech power plants, advising utility, clean tech and corporate clients and investing in unique clean tech project opportunities. Over his career, he has managed more than 2GW ($3.5billion) of solar and energy efficiency projects working with utilities, school districts, cities, counties, hospitals, federal agencies and industrial clients throughout the U.S. Prior to starting TurningPoint Energy, he worked for SOLON Corporation as its vice president and general manager of the U.S. power plants business where he helped expand and restructure the U.S. business leaving it positioned for success and profitability forward. Prior to that, Mr. Schoch spent nearly five years starting and organically growing SunEdison’s utility-scale solar development business throughout the United States. Mr. Schoch also worked as a leader in business development at Johnson Controls in energy efficiency services, and prior to that as a marketing consultant launching various products and services in the high tech space during the 1990s. He holds a master of business administration degree from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and a bachelor of arts from Loyola University New Orleans.
Elaine Schoch, VP of Marketing Communications
Elaine Schoch is vice president of marketing communications, and brings two decades of expertise in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business public relations, social media and marketing communications. She was previously the director of social media at 104 West. She has developed and implemented integrated public relations campaigns at leading public relations firms including Schenkein, Ogilvy Public Relations and Golin/Harris International for consumer and high-tech clients including Western Union, Home Depot, Qwest Communications, Texas Instruments and Amazon. Her programs have been recognized by the industry with multiple awards from the Public Relations Society of America.
Ms. Schoch is also an award-winning travel writer and the founder and editor at Carpe Travel, an online wine travel resource. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Marketing from The University of North Texas in Denton.
Franny Yuhas, Managing Director of Development
As managing director of development for TurningPoint Energy, Franny Yuhas performs all aspects of solar project origination including site identification, energy off-take agreement negotiation and other due diligence activities to ensure project implementation success. She works closely with engineering, project finance, real estate for land acquisition, operations and the legal team to ensure project feasibility and that project economics align. Immediately prior to her role at TurningPoint Energy, Ms. Yuhas worked at WaterSmart Software to exercise her passion to learn more about water demand efficiency supported by data analytics, customer engagement and behavioral science. Prior to that, she worked at SunEdison for 10 years where she originated over 100 MW of commercial, municipal and utility scale solar projects in the U.S. Prior to that, she worked in the public transportation industry. Ms. Yuhas holds Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Salisbury State University (part of the University System of Maryland).
Sonja Word, Director of Real Estate, Title
Sonja Word is the Director of Real Estate, Title for TurningPoint Energy where she directs title insurance services across the company’s multi-state portfolio and maintains executive-level relationships with select title insurers, agents and underwriters throughout the US. She identifies risks posed by encumbrances of all types, including mineral ownership, easements and surface rights. and additionally represents the firm’s interest in structuring, negotiating and drafting a variety of site control documents. Ms. Word works closely with counsel, project developers, and surveyors to ensure that TurningPoint Energy’s projects meet all investor expectations and document requirements.
Ms. Word has more than 25 years of title and title insurance experience, previously owned a title company, has been involved in multi-state, large-scale utility upgrade and replacement projects, major pipeline development, and title examination for permitting, acquisition, solar, water, oil/gas and surface ownership. She has many years of experience preparing title opinions on behalf of attorneys, and her title examination experience includes more than 13 U.S. states and knowledge of title insurance requirements for each. Ms. Word studied Business Administration at Tarleton State University in Texas and is a licensed Right-of-Way Agent in Texas, a member of the American Association of Professional Landman, the International Right of Way Association, and is a licensed Texas Real Estate Agent.Sonja
Adam Beal, Executive Vice President of Development
As executive vice president of development, Adam Beal oversees all real estate, land development and permitting activities for the company. Prior to joining TurningPoint Energy, Mr. Beal founded Lighthouse Advisers, a Colorado-based real estate development consultancy specializing in the renewable energy industry. In addition to its consultancy work, Lighthouse Advisers co-developed and maintained an equity stake in 19 operational solar facilities in the Northeast U.S.
Before forming Lighthouse Advisers, Mr. Beal was employed by SunEdison, overseeing land development and site acquisition processes for 80+ distributed generation solar project sites throughout the U.S. and its island territories, and handling land acquisition functions for dozens of utility-scale solar projects in the desert Southwest. He has lent his expertise to over 1,500 MW of now-operational or under-development photovoltaic solar projects. Mr. Beal has also worked as a commercial real estate broker – licensed by the Colorado Real Estate Commission for over a decade – and has additional experience in retail and mixed-use development. He is an active real estate investor, and holds a Bachelor of Science from Western Michigan University.
Bruce Tang, Senior Vice President of Finance
Bruce Tang serves as senior vice president of finance for TurningPoint Energy. For the past five years, he has consulted to and provided advisory services to a wide range of renewable energy companies, including developers, manufacturers and investors, across multiple jurisdictions and technologies.
In addition to his consulting practice, he has spent 10 years working as a structured finance executive with Kala Energy, Lightbeam Electric Company and Recurrent Energy. Mr. Tang also worked for 15 years at the global investment bank, Babcock & Brown, where he specialized in sale-leaseback and partnership finance solutions for transportation and energy assets. He graduated with honors from Harvard University earning a B.A. in European History.
Michelle Carpenter, Managing Director of Development
Michelle Carpenter has more than 12 years of project development, financing and technical expertise within the renewable energy industry in the Northeast. She has been involved in the origination, development and due diligence on more than 150 MW of solar projects. Prior to her work at TurningPoint Energy, Mrs. Carpenter was C.O.O. at a Rhode Island renewable energy company where she helped grow the business from a single operational project to one of the largest developers in the state. She also ran the Northeast distributed generation division for NextEra Energy Resources, helping to spearhead the companies entrance into the DG space. Her expertise ranges from site identification, qualification and permitting to contract negotiation and regulatory analysis.
Prior to her experience in the renewable energy industry, Mrs. Carpenter spent five years in the estimating department of a multi-million-dollar electrical contracting firm. She has a B.S. in Environmental & Natural Resource Economics with a minor in Environmental Science from the University of Rhode Island.
Peggy Paas, Director of Real Estate
Peggy Paas oversees TurningPoint Energy’s pipeline of real estate acquisitions and is responsible for negotiating a range of deal structures nationwide. She identifies, proposes and implements creative or alternative new market site selection approaches that reduce exposure to permitting and development risks. She develops and manages relationships with internal and external key stakeholders to influence and collaborate on ongoing transactions and project development. She also manages all legal entity portfolios to successfully identify, execute, and monitor necessary governance and compliance activities.
Ms. Paas has 20 years of real estate experience – 5 years within the renewable energy industry. She facilitated and assisted in loan and tax equity closings of more than 50MW in solar projects as well as real estate site control closings of more than 120 MW in solar projects. Prior to her joining the renewable energy industry she was involved in major real estate purchase and debt closings of up to $500MM. In addition, she has years of legal research experience nationwide including water and mineral rights researches.
Ms. Paas has lived in the United States since 2001 and is fluent in Dutch, German and English. She has been a licensed Transactional Paralegal for nearly 20 years, a licensed Nevada Notary Public for nearly 14 years and the President of a Homeowner’s Association.
James Marshall, Executive VP of Project Operations
As executive vice president of project operations, James Marshall is responsible for the full development, engineering, procurement and construction aspects of solar and related clean tech generation projects. Prior to joining TurningPoint Energy, Mr. Marshall founded and led an independent consulting business specializing in the engineering, procurement and construction of solar power plants where he worked with solar energy project investors, manufacturers, and utility companies.
Mr. Marshall also spent nine years at SunEdison where he designed over 1GW of successful solar projects in the U.S., Canada, Spain and Italy as the lead engineer, director of the utility-scale engineering team, and then global director of engineering and global standards. Prior to that, he spent several years at both REC Solar and PG&E. Mr. Marshall holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and holds CA General B Contractors license.
Salar Naini, Vice President of Business Development
Mr. Naini is responsible for origination and development of solar and related clean tech generation opportunities and supporting the development of project financing resources at TurningPoint Energy. Over his career, he has held various roles in business development and finance and has successfully developed 112MW ($381 million) in solar projects. Prior to joining TurningPoint Energy, Mr. Naini was the principal at SolCom Energy, LLC where he originated and developed California-specific customer-financed solar projects. Mr. Naini has also worked at NRG Energy where he was responsible for the origination and development of opportunities for the firm’s public and private sector customers. Before joining NRG, he worked for SOLON Corporation as a business and financial analyst, playing key roles in the analysis, development and execution of a 24MW project portfolio. Mr. Naini is a Provost Scholar from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business and holds a Masters in Finance from Creighton University’s Heider School of Business.
Jordan Belknap, Director of Development
As director of development, Jordan Belknap is responsible for project management and permitting of major projects. Prior to joining TurningPoint Energy, Mr. Belknap founded HelioAmp Energy LLC, which specialized in solar energy project development, permitting, and construction management. Mr. Belknap in an industry veteran with a wide breadth of experience and proven track record of successful project execution. He has designed and constructed over 100 ground and roof mounted solar projects for clients that include government entities, businesses, low income housing, schools, non-profits, and houses of worship. He is a co-developer and an equity owner of 19 operating solar farms in the northeast for which he managed EPC and O&M activities. Mr. Belknap holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics and Economics from Bowdoin College and is a Massachusetts Licensed Construction Supervisor.
Luis Sanchez, Engineering Manager
As Engineering Manager, Luis Sanchez is responsible for managing development engineering in various markets across the nation. Luis comes with vast experience in both the utility and DG markets, with knowledge of the entire process of a project from land selection and interconnection permitting and execution. Prior to joining TurningPoint Energy, Sanchez spent nearly four years as an Engineering Manager at EnterSolar, a corporate solar developer. He managed the engineering and execution of large ground-mount projects for corporate customers, as well as helped create the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) arm of the company focusing on the execution of projects for community solar developers. Prior to EnterSolar, Sanchez was an Engineering Manager at SunEdison’s Utility Scale Division for nearly nine years, focusing on the development and execution of large scale projects across the country; and an Operations Manager at GameChange Solar, an NYC-based racking company, managing the construction services. He holds a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and is a NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional, as well as PMP certified.
Christopher Bergen, Advisor, Land Acquisition, Development and Entitlement
Christopher Bergen is Principal of Altis Energy Services LLC and brings 13 years of wind and solar development experience, including a five-year tenure at Iberdrola Renewables. He has demonstrated success in siting project concepts, building and supervising project teams, managing complex permitting process, and negotiating commercial agreements. Mr. Bergen developed over 221MW of commercially operational wind and solar projects now in operation, and managed over 5GW of development pipeline across North America. He holds a BA in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Emory University, and a MBA from the University of Colorado Denver Business School.