Scaling Solar: BlueWave Case Study

Empowering a mission-based solar developer to increase their speed and scale.

Director of Site Acquisition Tyson R. Buerkle used Anderson Optimization to help his team at BlueWave move faster and more fully own the end-to-end siting process.

Challenge

Market dynamics can rapidly change and developers often need to move fast to take advantage of new opportunities. When BlueWave identified some key siting opportunities in a new market, they needed a way to move forward quickly and scale their process efficiently.

“We received early indications that solar development opportunities would open up in Maine in 2019 which would align with our company’s strengths. We decided to acquire site control on 14 sites in the state before the end of the year.

In the past, we relied on land scout organizations and inbound interest for many years...we had a limited ability to proactively drive the strategic direction of our site acquisition efforts. Additionally, we desired to expand into multiple new markets at once and needed a method to target and reach landowners rapidly and at scale.

We could develop scout networks and communicate our needs and sit back and wait for results, or we could build our own competency in-house and get the added benefit of proactive strategic sourcing.”

Solution

“Anderson Optimization provided us a single platform to filter through to our top priority sites, reach out to the landowners of these sites, and ensure that everyone who responded with interest owned a site that we wanted to develop.

We built a team and a process around originating our own sites. We used/use Anderson to rapidly sift through existing land in our target areas and the software helps us get closer to automating the identification of high potential sites.

The tool also helps us maintain a methodical approach and minimizes doubling up on search areas.

We have always found the Anderson team immediately responsive to our questions, requests, and needs. They seem genuinely enthused to create solutions that meet our business needs.”

Impact

“We went from a reactive site acquisition operation to a proactive operation, and we improved our agility, speed, and volume.

This allows us to execute on strategy more quickly and secure a deeper and more diverse development pipeline for the company.

With a single team member focusing on the Maine market, we acquired our target sites and provided our interconnection team the ability to secure the most advantageous queue positions in the state.

In the meantime, the Maine legislature passed policy we expected to pass -- solidifying the value of our effort.”

Through partnering with Anderson Optimization, BlueWave has been able to find high-quality sites more quickly and scale their processes across new markets.

AO Prospect by Anderson Optimization expedites and simplifies early-stage land siting. Easily identify ideal parcels for renewable development and automate complex GIS analysis to find high-quality sites in just minutes. Visit andersonoptimization.com for more information.

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BlueWave is a solar energy developer based out of Boston, MA focusing on community solar and solar development throughout the U.S.: “We're on a mission to bring solar to every community. As a certified B Corp, we are guided by our responsibility to our customers, our community, and the planet.”