Brokered Solar
Savings and sustainability, powered by solar, with someone on your side of the table.
Solar installed on your roof, over your parking lot, or on adjacent land sits behind your meter. Every kilowatt-hour it produces is a kilowatt-hour you do not buy from the grid. Done well, an on-site system delivers operational savings, federal and state tax benefits, a hedge against rising electric charges, reduced reliance on the centralized utility grid, and a visible demonstration of your organization’s commitment to sustainability.
Priority Power does not develop these projects and does not sell equipment. We represent you, from initial education and feasibility through competitive bidding and contract negotiation. Once construction begins, we stay engaged through regularly scheduled check-ins with the developer or EPC contractor, who handles interconnection, construction and commissioning, so you know the project is on track. We can engage a wide network of solar developers and EPC contractors, hold all of them to the same specification, and evaluate their bids that come back on your behalf.
We aren’t here to sell you a solar array; we’re here to help solar fit your energy management strategy. One advisor, accountable to you.
Why an Independent Advisor Changes the Outcome
A developer’s proposal is built to win the developer’s project. Our analysis answers a different question: does this project make sense at this site, at your cost of capital, against your current and forecast electricity rates? Sometimes the answer is no, and that is a legitimate result of the work. Because we have nothing to sell you, we can say so.
We also evaluate the project against your electricity supply position, which a solar developer generally cannot do. Across the Priority Power Family of companies, we advise on more than $3 billion in annual energy spend, so the avoided cost and rate assumptions underneath a solar model are numbers we work with every day. If the avoided cost is wrong, every savings figure in the proposal is wrong.
What We Do for You
Feasibility and Screening
Roof and site assessment, shading and space constraints, utility tariff analysis, production modeling and preliminary project economics.
Incentive and Tax Strategy
federal tax credits, depreciation treatment, state and utility rebates, renewable energy credits and grant programs, coordinated with your tax and accounting advisors.
Specification, Solicitation and Selection
We can help find the right fit for the project through our network of developers or through competitive solicitation, bid normalization, and review of references.
Contract and Negotiation Support
Commercial review of EPC agreement terms, production and equipment warranties, O&M obligations, schedule and performance guarantees. Final contract language is reviewed by your legal counsel.
How It Works
Send Your Bills and Site Information
We will need the full invoice for each electric account you manage. If you are not sure what to send, send what you have and we will sort through it.
We Assess Feasibility
Production modeling, tariff and avoided-cost analysis, the incentive stack and preliminary economics, delivered as a clear recommendation with the numbers behind it.
We Take It To Market
Specification, competitive solicitation across our developer and EPC network, bid normalization, and a recommendation you can act on.
We Stay Engaged Through Completion
Commercial support through contract negotiation, then regular check-in until the system is online.
Solar Paired with Storage
Solar alone reduces energy consumption/charges. Solar paired with a battery can also address demand charges, shift production into your highest-cost hours, and provide ride-through for critical loads. Storage materially changes the economics in both directions, so we evaluate it inside the same feasibility study rather than as an afterthought.
Is Your Site a Candidate?
On-site solar is not right for every facility. The projects that work usually share several of these:
Commodity
The cost of the physical electricity or natural gas your facility consumes.
Capacity
Cost associated with ensuring that there is sufficient generation capacity available to meet future electricity demand, especially during peak periods or emergencies.
Comprised of the facility’s “Capacity Tag” or “Peak Load Contribution (PLC)” (set during either 1 or 5 peak days depending on ISO) and the regional ISO capacity auction rate.
Transmission
Also called “Network Integration Transmission Service” (NITS), is the primary mechanism the ISO uses to:
- Ensure reliable delivery of electricity from generation sources to end users and
- Recover the costs of building, maintaining, and operating the transmission infrastructure.
Comprised of your “Transmission Tag” or “Network Peak Load (NPL)” (set during single highest peak hour) and the regional ISO NITS rate.
Line Losses
Refers to the energy lost as electricity travels through transmission and distribution lines from generators to end users. These losses are a natural consequence of electrical resistance and inefficiencies in the grid infrastructure.
They typically account for 5–10% of the total electricity generated.
Ancillaries
A charge covers the costs associated with functions that support the transmission of electricity from generators to consumers while maintaining grid reliability.
This includes Regulation Service, Spinning Reserve, Non-Spinning Reserve, Reactive Power, and Black Start Service. They ensure frequency stability, voltage control, and emergency response. Without them, the grid would be vulnerable to outages, instability, and inefficiencies.
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
RPS is a state-level policy that requires electricity suppliers to include a certain amount of renewable energy in their fuel mix.
RPS costs incentivize renewable energy development and generation. These costs vary significantly by state depending on the aggressiveness of their renewable energy goals.
Taxes and Service Fees
Depending on your location, state and local taxes can be a substantial share of the bill, so confirm whether a quoted price includes or excludes them.
The same applies to supplier and consultant fees: know what they are and how they are applied to your energy budget.
Where This Makes Sense
Project economics depend on where you are. The utility tariff, the incentive programs available, interconnection requirements and local permitting all vary by state and utility territory. Priority Power supports clients nationally, and screening your specific territory is the first step of any feasibility review.
Community Solar: Frequently Asked Questions
No. On a brokered on-site solar project we are your representative, not the developer. We do not own the system, sell the equipment or take a position in the project. We manage the developers and contractors who do, and we answer to you.
On-site generation reduces the volume you buy from your supplier, and most supply agreements include bandwidth or swing provisions that assume a usage range. If your volume falls outside that range there can be a cost. Because we also manage supply contracts, we check those terms before the system is sized, and we time the project around your contract where it matters.
It can still work, but it requires long-term site control and landlord participation, typically a roof lease or an amendment to your lease. We raise it at the feasibility stage, because it takes longer to resolve than most clients expect.
Both are assessed during feasibility. Roof age, remaining life, load capacity and the roofing manufacturer’s warranty terms are part of the screen. Penetration and attachment methods are written into the specification bidders’ price against, and requiring installation to the roofing manufacturer’s specifications can help keep your existing roof warranty in place.
The avoided-cost assumption, the production estimate and who guarantees it, the equipment and inverter warranties, the O&M obligation and who holds it, any escalators, and the termination and buyout terms. Proposals are rarely comparable as written, normalizing them is most of the value in the process.
Yes. On-site solar is one part of a facility’s energy position. We can evaluate storage alongside the solar project, and Priority Power supports procurement, load management and demand response for the same accounts.
