This summer, I was introduced to the engineering and finance sides of the renewable energy industry and the meticulous work behind developing solar and wind projects in the United States. These introductions were all made possible thanks to Longroad Energy, a solar and wind company that develops and operates multiple gigawatts of projects across the United States.
Upon stepping off of the Commuter Rail for the first time at South Station, I walked my way toward the financial district where Longroad’s office is located. I was first introduced to Peter Keel, a Rivers parent and Longroad’s CFO. When I greeted him, saying, “Nice to meet you Mr. Keel,” he gave me his first insight of many to come, saying that fellow employees call each other by their first names. This custom was tricky for me, a student who is used to communicating with teachers formally, and it took time and practice not to hesitate before addressing senior employees, including the CEO, by their first names. This adjustment, however, was a signal of the unique experiences to come at Longroad and the flexibility required to succeed in the renewable energy industry.
I was then given a company badge, introduced to the doormen, and taken up the elevator to the 17th floor of the High Street Tower where I met my fellow employees. I immediately noticed how each employee was incredibly productive working on their own pieces of a larger project, yet also capable of collaborating with the rest of the team to put each piece together. The office was mostly silent with employees working on specific aspects of each project. However, this silent and productive atmosphere changed as the hard work of each employee meshed together in meetings, spreadsheets, and phone calls, allowing for complex, multimillion-dollar projects to come to fruition. I was in awe of how seamless the operations were at Longroad and became eager to get to work.
My first task at Longroad was to develop a working spreadsheet of the multiple distributed generation ("DG") companies across the United States. DG companies develop or operate solar projects that are generally between the sizes of 1 and 20 Megawatts (think about the size of a Walmart rooftop). Longroad had recently purchased one of these DG companies and they wanted to create a comprehensive list of its national competitors as a means of understanding the space in which they would be working. My spreadsheet focused on each company’s developed projects and their pipeline of future projects, as well as where each company did business and how many employees worked there. I then shared and explained my findings with multiple fellow employees which allowed them to understand the competition in a straightforward and comprehensive manner.
An ongoing project that was on the back burner for the entirety of my internship was Three Corners, the largest solar project in the state of Maine, that had recently finished construction. Using the independent engineer’s report and multiple financial spreadsheets, I first worked to understand the complex details of the project including personnel, equipment, agreements, and financial structures. Every project must be reviewed by an independent engineer in order for it to receive approval for construction. What results is an in-depth report on all aspects of the project. This report, along with the budgets created by the financial team, allowed me to better understand the complexities of the project. I next worked with a fellow employee to determine the optimal starting budget for the project. We used the concepts of P50 and P99 to generate a multitude of outcomes within the data that had been collected and calculated. P50 refers to the event where a project generates the exact amount of revenue that it is projected to, whereas P99 refers to the event where a project generates the lowest one percent of projected revenue. In other words, P99 refers to a worst-case scenario which is often caused by solar module downtime or other factors such as reduced sunlight that can inhibit the energy generation of the project. I, along with some of the finance team, analyzed all of those outcomes by plugging in starting values and running the system to determine the correct starting cash for the project.
Knowing that I am interested in majoring in engineering, Pete organized a trip to visit Three Corners. I prepared by reviewing the engineer’s report and learning about the basic systems such as solar panels and trackers (the mechanisms that turn the panels to face the sun throughout the day). After a long car ride full of conversation about our families, company projects, and upcoming plans, Pete and I arrived in Maine where we were met by the construction and operations teams who drove us around the nearly 1000-acre site in trucks. Along the way, the team explained the multiple components of the project. Before working at Longroad, I assumed that the panels were the sole key component of a project, but there are countless other systems that must work cohesively to produce the best system efficiency. These include inverters, which step up the voltage as well as convert from DC (direct current) to AC (alternating current). This transition is necessary, because AC is superior for practical use in the homes and businesses that the electricity will be transferred to. Transformers are also included, which step up the voltage even higher before interconnection to the grid, and the countless cables that transfer the energy across the site. My trip to Three Corners allowed me to comprehend the countless aspects of a project that must be perfected to allow for the best return on investment.
My final project at Longroad, which I will continue to work on beyond my time in the office, is something that is especially personal to me. The principal of Tenacre Country Day School, the elementary school that I attended as a child, reached out to Longroad in hopes of designing and installing a solar system on the school’s roof. While Longroad does not design and install projects of that scale, our CFO put me in charge of facilitating the endeavor, which means reaching out to solar companies that will install the system, meeting with representatives from the school to understand their optimal size and location of the system, and understanding the government solar incentives that dictate the true price. I am currently in contact with multiple solar companies who have generated proposals for the system. These proposals outline the price, efficiency, and cash flows of the system over time, which allows me to calculate which of these systems have the best price per watt and other metrics. I then compare these numbers across each proposal to understand which might be the best for the school. My work will ultimately result in a meeting with the principal where I present each proposal and my own recommendations for which will be the best for Tenacre.
My time at Longroad has, above all else, allowed me to understand what it is like to work amongst smart people in pursuit of accomplishing large-scale goals. I have also come to understand the renewable energy industry and how critical it is to the future well-being of the inhabitants of our planet. This realization has certainly compelled me to pursue a career in this industry which has such great potential and continuous relevancy in the future. I would like to thank all of my fellow employees at Longroad, especially Pete Keel for his mentorship throughout the summer, and Rivers for allowing me to have this unique opportunity. What a fantastic summer!
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