Delivery
Eight stages, one accountable party
Engineer, procure, construct. One contract, one schedule, one party answering for it. Here is the sequence, the typical week ranges and who owns each gate.
- Delivery model
- Full EPC
- Stages
- Eight
- Typical rooftop
- 26 to 34 weeks
- Client gates
- Two design reviews
Sequence
From interval data to permission to operate
- 01
Interval data and audit
Weeks 1 to 3
Twelve months of 15-minute data pulled, load shape built, peak events attributed to equipment, tariff modelled.
- 02
Site survey
Weeks 2 to 4
Roof, yard, switchgear and service. Drone survey, moisture scan where relevant, structural as-builts collected.
- 03
Engineering and basis of design
Weeks 4 to 8
Layout, yield model, structural calculations, single line, protection scheme and the storage sizing if any.
- 04
Permitting and interconnection
Weeks 6 to 22
AHJ plan check and the Rule 21 path, filed in parallel. This is where the schedule is won or lost.
- 05
Procurement
Weeks 8 to 16
Modules, inverters, racking and switchgear ordered against lead times, staged in our own yards.
- 06
Construction
Weeks 16 to 28
Civil, structural, racking, modules, DC and AC electrical, phased around your operating hours.
- 07
Commissioning
Weeks 26 to 30
IV curve traces on every string, insulation resistance, protection settings, inverter configuration and the baseline report.
- 08
PTO and handover
Weeks 28 to 32
Utility permission to operate, monitoring credentials, as-builts, warranty registry and the O&M calendar.
Stages overlap deliberately. Permitting and interconnection start while engineering is still running, and procurement starts before permits land where lead times demand it.
Schedule
What we run in parallel, and why it matters
The utility interconnection path and the building permit path are separate queues run by separate organisations. Neither depends on the other. Running them sequentially, which is common, adds months for no engineering reason at all.
We file both in the same week. If the plan check takes twelve weeks and the utility path takes sixteen, the project spends sixteen weeks in review rather than twenty-eight.
Procurement is the other overlap. Switchgear and transformers have long and volatile lead times, so on projects where those items are critical we place orders against the approved basis of design rather than waiting for a stamped permit.
The two gates that need you
- Basis of design review, around week 6. System size in kW DC, modelled kWh, layout, storage sizing and the cost range. Changes here are cheap.
- Construction readiness review, around week 15. Final layout, schedule, site access, shutdown windows and phasing. Changes here are not cheap.
The long pole
Interconnection is where schedules go to die
Every stage above is ours to control except one. The utility process has its own queue, its own screens and its own calendar, and it usually sets the energisation date.
Read the eight interconnection gatesAnswers
Delivery: questions
Not covered here? Our engineers answer directly, not through a call centre.
Ask a question(661) 555-0183Engineer, procure, construct. We do the engineering, buy the equipment and build the system, under one contract with one party accountable. The alternative is a designer, a supplier and an installer pointing at each other when something does not line up.
Electrical, racking and commissioning are our own crews. Civil works, structural steel erection, crane work and roofing are subcontracted to firms we use repeatedly, under our supervision and our schedule.
In almost every case. We phase the work around operating hours and, for seasonal facilities, around the campaign. The one unavoidable interruption is the electrical tie-in, usually a single day and usually at a weekend.
Sign an interval-data release, give us site access, nominate one decision maker, and attend two design reviews. Everything else is ours. The single most useful thing a client does is respond quickly at the two review gates.
Monitoring credentials, the commissioning report with string-level IV traces, as-built drawings, the equipment serial registry, warranty documents and the O&M calendar. Then the first performance review at 90 days.
Bring us the bill before you bring us the roof
Every project starts with twelve months of interval data and a load shape. The array comes after that, sized to what you actually use.
CSLB #1071482 (sample). Prevailing wage on public works. Engineers answer, not a call centre.