Fail fast, succeed faster: the developer’s guide to streamlining solar projects with early-stage development software

In today’s fast-paced solar industry, speed is everything. While solar projects can span several years, ensuring timely progress at every stage is vital to controlling costs, maintaining stakeholder confidence, and seizing market opportunities. So, how do you thrive in this extensive development process?

Developers and project managers are adopting a powerful philosophy: fail fast, succeed faster. By quickly identifying unviable projects, teams can refocus on those with the highest chance of success. And early-stage development software has become a key tool in bringing this approach to life.

In this article, you’ll learn how early-stage development software can help solar developers and project managers streamline their workflows, cut down on bottlenecks, and make faster, smarter decisions. So, let’s dive into why it’s crucial to adopt a fail-fast approach and how the right tools, such as early-stage development software, can make it a reality.

Why does failing fast matter?

Failing fast doesn’t mean setting up projects to fail; it means quickly identifying when they are unlikely to succeed due to limited resources. In solar development, this approach helps save time and resources by deprioritizing projects that are less likely to work out. By doing this, developers can focus on the most promising opportunities yet still have the flexibility to revisit other projects if things change later on.

Traditionally, project assessments relied heavily on lengthy due diligence processes requiring heavy reliance on GIS specialists, and outside studies, meaning potential red flags might not be uncovered until months into the evaluation process. Even worse, projects usually aren’t disqualified until a lot of money has been spent.

In early-stage development software, unlike traditional methods where developers secure land and conduct various studies before fully understanding site viability, developers can assess viability right from the start. Early-stage development software supports quality due diligence from the outset: you can assess site suitability and pinpoint disqualifying factors such as capacity limitations, energy markets pricing, climate-adjusted flood risk, steep slopes/hazards, and more — in a matter of minutes. By failing fast, developers avoid wasting time on bad-fit projects and shift their focus to options that align with their technical and financial goals.

Key software features and benefits

A fail fast philosophy with early-stage solar development software allows fast evaluation and risk assessment by instantly spotting red flags, centralizing real-time data, and focusing only on high-potential projects. Most importantly, you can start your due diligence from day one and transform how you manage solar development.

Wondering if early-stage development software is your next big move? Then, let’s have a closer look at its key features and benefits.

1. Early identification of red flags

Adopting a “fail fast” philosophy is critical in solar development, as it prevents investment in projects with low potential. Early-stage development software quickly identifies key issues, allowing developers to focus resources where they matter most. Here’s how you can identify a site’s red flags before you move on to the next steps of the process:

• Find the right points of interconnection (POI): don’t waste time on sites with buildable land near poor points of interconnection. Early-stage development software, such as PVcase Prospect, offers capabilities to site far more efficiently:
  • Capacity data helps identify the right POIs by providing data to quickly evaluate substation and transmission line interconnection potential, including full grid/injection studies and allocated costs. Hence, you know the POIs you’re targeting have realistic interconnection potential and costs.
  • Locational Marginal Pricing data helps you optimize project planning by targeting the right POIs based on nodal price and basis calculations, allowing  you to optimize your renewable energy project’s site selection and financial feasibility from the start.
• Get immediate and accurate site buildability analysis: instead of waiting months to assess a site’s buildability, you can employ reliable early-stage solar development software that immediately identifies buildability. For instance, PVcase Prospect includes automated constraint mapping with more than 40 settings, climate-adjusted flood risk analysis, and climate risk datasets that give developers a more realistic picture of buildable acreage from day one. 
• Estimate revenue potential with initial layout and DC capacity calculations: understanding site-specific energy production through initial layout designs can help you achieve more accurate early financial models. This information allows for precise financial assessments, eliminating infeasible projects right from the start. 

Developers can weed out unsuitable sites months in advance by quickly identifying these common disqualifiers before committing valuable resources.

2. Centralized, accessible, real-time data management

Traditional site assessments often rely on fragmented knowledge and inconsistent data sources, leading to costly project delays. In this segmented approach, critical insights are trapped in silos, making it difficult for developers to vet project sites effectively.

Developers must collaborate with multiple departments and stakeholders, but essential information — such as capacity data — often remains isolated within separate teams. This results in developers selecting sites without understanding capacity, which only allows the engineering team to discover problems later. 

Moreover, when vital data, like that from third-party vendors, is confined to separate platforms, its impact is diminished since developers can’t fully integrate it into their site selection process. These hurdles prevent developers from accessing and utilizing the right data in the correct sequence, leading to inefficient processes and hindering the ability to “fast fail” unsuitable sites. 

In stark contrast, early-stage development software centralizes all project data in one unified platform. This ensures real-time access and updates across all team members, fostering seamless collaboration and eliminating data silos. Project stakeholders can work more efficiently together, sharing insights and strategies instantly without the cumbersome back-and-forth of traditional methods.

Moreover, many early-stage development software solutions come with out-of-the-box access to exclusive features, significantly improving site evaluations. These features provide comprehensive insights into various factors like grid interconnection, energy markets pricing, topography, climate-change risks, and environmental constraints, eliminating the need for extensive separate contracts with data vendors and custom GIS databases. Having an all-in-one software not only saves time but also improves the accuracy of the evaluations, enabling developers to make informed decision-making from the onset.

3. Reduction of GIS bottlenecks

GIS specialists are crucial for managing large databases and coming up with an overall data management strategy, but relying solely on them for day-to-day renewable development site selection can actually slow decision-making, impede progress, and delay project timelines. Early-stage software empowers developers by equipping them with critical GIS datasets and easy-to-use site selection automation tools for independent site assessments. 

This autonomy not only accelerates project iteration — allowing swift transitions when a site isn’t suitable — but also puts control in developers’ hands. Consequently, developers can easily tweak search parameters to identify the right sites without back-and-forth coordination with GIS teams. GIS teams can then focus more time on broader database management, rather than rote site searches for the development team. This creates a continuous “pipeline of possibilities,” reducing downtime and streamlining the project timeline.

4. Iterative development and rapid pivots

Solar development isn’t always linear; it often requires changes based on new information. Having centralized, easy-to-access data allows teams to quickly adjust project plans and tackle specific site challenges in real time. 

This flexibility means they can seamlessly switch between sites or configurations if needed, ensuring that projects stay financially feasible and successful. It’s crucial to have a siting platform that makes it easy to identify multiple potential sites, facilitate a broad campaign and offer a range of options. This allows developers to rank sites and prioritize those with the best potential while maintaining the ability to quickly pivot if a site becomes non-pursuable. 

For instance, when using a platform like PVcase Prospect, developers can search for land around multiple points of interest (POIs) simultaneously, yielding numerous site options. They can then rank these sites, smoothly transitioning to the next viable option when a top choice is disqualified. Additionally, when dealing with multiple parcels and landowners, developers can easily revisit previously overlooked parcels if negotiation issues arise. This ability to adapt and visualize alternatives ensures projects remain on track and can exploit new opportunities as they emerge, keeping progress smooth and proactive.

Fail fast, succeed faster with PVcase Prospect

One tool specifically designed for early-stage solar project development is PVcase Prospect. Built with the fail fast philosophy in mind, PVcase Prospect supports the entire site selection and early evaluation process. Here are the 5 key exclusive features that aid users in streamlining their solar development.

1. Capacity data

PVcase Prospect’s Capacity data feature provides immediate visibility on grid capacity and the allocated costs you may be responsible for to quickly identify ideal locations for solar development. This all-in-one platform pinpoints optimal points of interconnection (POIs), searches nearby parcels, automates constraint analysis, and exports a shortlist of buildable sites.

Traditionally, this level of accurate injection studies must be commissioned, takes weeks of turnaround time, and you only find out what capacity looks like after you’ve already spent weeks or months evaluating potential sites.

By starting your site selection with capacity and flipping this process on its head, you ensure you’re targeting substations and transmission lines that can accommodate interconnection from the start and weeding out POIs that are non-starters. The best part? There’s no need to wait 4-6 weeks for an injection study — you can begin your development right away.

2. Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) data

Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) data in PVcase Prospect allows you to target the right points of interconnection (POIs) based on three years of historical nodal pricing and basis calculations, providing a clear picture of energy market pricing in your project areas. This tool allows you to optimize your target sites in the first place to make sure you’re only targeting POIs where pricing is in the range that will work for your financial models rather than trying to find sites first and then check on energy markets pricing later. 

LMP data allows you to avoid ever spending resources and time on sites that will be non-starters later in the process. Plus, you get access to geolocated nationwide insights without the need to handle separate tools or waste time tying prices to real-world locations.

3. Distribution Grid data

PVcase Prospect offers premium Distribution Grid (DG) data that helps developers find optimal parcels near distribution lines and substations anywhere in the United States without the need for manual DG line tracing.

In most of the country, the distribution grid is not mapped, which leaves community solar developers in the dark when trying to site these solar projects; therefore, Distribution Grid data solves this gap to expedite development and find potential sites that you know are close to the grid.

4. Flood Risk data

In today’s climate, understanding flood risk is crucial as 1-in-100-year events occur more like every 5 to 10 years for many parts of the United States. Moreover, traditional public data overlooks half the country’s flood exposure and fails to account for climate change impacts, exposing developers to unnecessary risks. 

PVcase Prospect helps developers build future-proof solar projects with premium Flood Risk data from First Street’s climate-adaptive insights. You can now avoid costly site downtimes using high-resolution, climate-adjusted flood risk maps covering the entire lower 48 states, offering precision down to individual properties. Traditionally, developers would need to wait months before commissioning expensive hydrology studies in order to learn about more detailed flood risk. With PVcase Prospect, developers can screen out bad sites from day one and succeed faster. 

5. Layouts

PVcase Prospect provides a robust tool, Layouts, enabling a thorough evaluation of revenue potential through initial layout and DC capacity calculations. It swiftly generates efficient panel layouts within buildable zones and evaluates multiple parcels within seconds for comparison. Developers can create preliminary designs to assess project feasibility, analyzing site-specific energy production to build more accurate early financial models. This comprehensive insight facilitates precise financial assessments, effectively filtering out unfeasible projects right from the start.

Final thoughts

The fail fast approach isn’t just a trendy catchphrase — it’s a transformative strategy that helps solar developers and project managers succeed in a competitive market. Thanks to early-stage development software, teams can build future-proof projects by eliminating poor-fit sites, accessing centralized data, and making data-driven decisions without heavy reliance on GIS specialists.

Ready to accelerate your site selection process? Book a demo today 👇