About Us
Our Mission
Our mission is to transform our energy future by creating freedom to choose a smarter, cleaner, more flexible way forward.
We do this by investing in our clients, our landowners, and our partners who create energy projects, technologies and companies that better the human condition, as well as the communities where our projects are located.
Our Values
Integrity:
We do business the right way, every time. Our personal integrity, our mission and our impact is more important than any monetary gain.
Our business is a collection of people that can do more together than any of us can do alone. We challenge and help improve each other. We search out clients who share our values and that we can genuinely and positively impact.
We are passionate about giving our customers the freedom to choose, solving each client’s challenges, the environment and getting the future of our energy economy actualized in a smart and clean way.
Our team demands a privilege of focus, only taking on projects and opportunities that we can execute at the highest level and with the greatest success. We turn down projects and opportunities that stretch our bandwidth or distract from our focus.
We enjoy the work we do, we enjoy our clients and we make sure to have fun along the way. Our mission is as much about creating happiness for us all as it is about transforming the energy industry.
Our team is a group of recovering workaholics who understand the importance of balancing work and life in a meaningful way. Balance allows us to be present with our clients and also allows us to want to stay engaged with each other and our mission for the long term.
Our History
Formed in 2013, TurningPoint Energy is a privately held company with some of the lowest overhead and profit requirements in the energy industry. This lean approach gives TurningPoint Energy 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 and 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 utility and C&I clients and attractive lease and purchase pricing for our landowners.
Adaptable Approach
Our team understands that solar development requires more than a cookie-cutter approach. We adapt our approach to the custom needs of each client, community, landowner, and project.
Part of our flexibility is our independence: TurningPoint Energy is not chained to a particular technology or financing. Instead, we source the right technology and financing for each client and project.
Utilities, communities, and landowners tell us that no other company is more reasonable with which to negotiate or build projects than TurningPoint Energy.
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.
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.
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.
Salar 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.
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.
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. Before joining 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 a 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).
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.
Nick Theisen drives origination and development of solar and energy storage opportunities at TurningPoint Energy, from policy implementation to project development and take-out financing. Over the course of his 11-year solar industry career, Mr. Theisen has held various roles in business development and project finance, supporting the successful development, implementation, and financing of more than 100MW and 25 MWh of battery energy storage systems across more than 100 projects spanning 13 states.
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.
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. She 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.
As Engineering Manager, Mr. 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.
In her role as Development Analyst, Gloria supports TurningPoint Energy’s project development team through project management, research, permitting assistance, site analysis and real estate development-related activities.