Development Prospecting

Prime development sites are every developer’s most strategic asset. Albright can identify properties that meet clients’ siting criteria, while minimizing permitting risk – the greatest challenge to infrastructure development.

• To gage development potential, Albright reviews and evaluates local land use permitting regulations, zoning codes, city and county comprehensive plans, existing and planned land uses, environmental factors, real estate ownership and competition.

• When necessary, we team with a network of professional biologists, archeologists, GIS analysts, and other environmental specialists to respond to specific project needs.

Typical deliverables include:

• GIS composite mapping showing areas of opportunity and constraint
• Desktop screening analyses to zero in on most suitable sites
• Evaluation and ranking of candidate sites
• Analysis of political climate and public acceptability
• Documentation of rationale for findings and recommendations

Due Diligence

Whether looking at new development opportunities or evaluating the value of potential mergers or acquisitions, Albright helps developers assess project risk and viability. We can gage the level of difficulty in obtaining all land rights and permits needed to achieve proposed commercial operation dates.
• Evaluating market opportunities, land and interconnection availability, permitting feasibility, site suitability, land use and environmental considerations, and competitive factors.

• Reporting findings and recommendations to inform investment decisions, assess risks, and evaluate potential mergers, acquisitions and asset dispositions.

• Ensuring prospects that are well-positioned within market niches based on timing, location, resource need and technology.

Project Permitting

Albright helps developers navigate local, state and federal permit processes to secure approvals for renewable and storage projects. We can also recommend ways to eliminate extraneous requirements and streamline review timeframes.

• Evaluating and documenting permit processes, timeframes and submittal requirements to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal laws, codes and regulations.

• Identifying key project stakeholders in permitting processes, helping represent clients’ interests in meetings with government agencies, business groups, and special interests.

• Developing creative permitting approaches and strategies to minimize costs and risks and increase success with competitive bid solicitations. Contributing to public outreach and communication strategies to ensure key stakeholders are engaged throughout permitting processes.

• Helping clients manage environmental planning, permitting and land consultants to maintain project schedules, control costs, and limit scope creep.

Land Rights

Successful project development hinges on building and maintaining strong landowner relationships based on mutual trust and credibility. Albright works with clients to implement land acquisition plans and compensation strategies to secure necessary property rights such as leases, easements, option agreements, ROW grants and fee title.

• Collaborating with appraisers, land surveyors, engineers, title companies, land agents, lawyers, and in-house specialists to ensure all land rights are obtained to support project development goals.

• Analyzing local and regional real estate markets to understand prevailing property values, lease rates, contract terms. Providing estimates of total real estate costs by year and category to inform project development budgets and schedules.

• Conducting landowner research, initiating landowner contacts and meeting with owners and or their attorneys to convey project benefits, negotiate rights and close transactions.

• Helping secure adequate site control to satisfy LGIP requirements for both generation and transmission interconnection facilities.

Strategic Planning

Renewable developers understand the importance of identifying and securing suitable project sites that optimize energy production and market opportunities. Albright helps clients to cultivate new development opportunities for wind, solar, storage, and transmission in the Western U.S.
• Initiating and maintaining key relationships with project partners, wholesale power providers, utilities, landowners, permitting agencies and other stakeholders.

• Evaluating, monitoring and reporting on new and emerging policy changes related to resource planning, regional transmission market formation, LGIP procedures, and other factors bearing on market demand for renewable and transmission development.

• Assisting with the preparation of bid packages to respond strategically to competitive resource solicitations for power purchase agreements and build-own transfer contracts.