CASE STUDY
Hodson Energy
CHALLENGE
Hodson Energy works iteratively rather than linearly. With access to large tracts of land, they need to take a quick snapshot of that land in a very short period of time, then pencil it in as a solar or battery project. This snapshot must include information such as interconnection requirements, capacity, pricing, permitting, buildable acreage, environmental challenges, and more. Where land gets a green light, they need to condense the permitting process as well – from the standard weeks or months into hours or days.
SOLUTION
For many years, Hodson has selected Transect as their technology partner to successfully navigate complex siting and compliances processes. Transect offers cutting-edge environmental mapping tools to help ensure that Hodson has a clear view of all aspects of a site, viewing data layers individually or in conjunction with one another. This offers a holistic impression of how relevant a particular parcel is, then exports it as a single file the team can use to move forward with the design and financial modeling on a specific piece of land.
If those variables look favorable, Hodson then returns to the Transect software once more for permitting guidance. They can find all the information they need in one place, avoiding the tedious labor of assembling it piecemeal from dozens of sources – with the associated costs. Instead, they can run a single report and share it with all pertinent team members immediately.
Using Transect as part of their day-to-day operations has netted Hodson significant financial savings, sped up project timelines and expedited proper site selection.
UP TO 40% LESS TIME RESEARCHING
While Hodson Energy does have access to a large India-based team that can support evaluations, research is still a significant outlay, even when sent overseas. When developers need to scrape for information at the local, state, and federal levels in order to identify sites or to get permits, the process yields significant work. However, Hodson is able to cut down their research time by 30-40% via Transect’s simple report and share features.
SMALLER, MORE AGILE TEAM
Hodson Energy’s team is split between the US and India. Maintaining a steady workflow between the two locations can prove difficult, but Transect’s easy, shareable reports simplify communication. Due to the streamlined reporting and reduced research time, Hodson is able to maintain a smaller and more agile team, reducing both costs and confusion.
Transect is the industry standard on the permitting side of things. To be honest, there isn’t another product that we’ve come across that does that piece of it. Transect helps us think through whatever requirements exist in getting a project permitted, which is huge for us because it’s a problem that doesn’t scale very well. The fact that you need to have not only a federal and state component, but also that county-level or super-local component … that’s where projects die. From that point of view, Transect is a necessity. For us, it starts with Transect and ends with Transect.
Shazim Chhapra, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Hodson Energy
Hodson Energy is a leading utility-scale solar and storage project developer. The company is actively developing 2 GW worth of assets at nine different sites, for a total of 30 projects at the moment. Their workflow requires constant identification of potential sites and, where such sites are feasible, permitting in order to develop them. The massive number of potential acreage under evaluation at all times means that Hodson is constantly identifying new parcels of land, and without the tools to streamline the process, time quickly becomes a challenge.
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