How Pivot Works With Client Sustainability Teams

By: Pivot Energy

October 10, 2024

Pivot Energy is, first and foremost, a solar developer—but we do more than just add megawatts of clean energy to the grid. We partner with clients to determine the best pathways to achieving their sustainability goals with clean energy procurement.

Our key to successful partnerships is transparency and mutual understanding of what determines success. We emphasize education and take a solution-agnostic approach to building customized solutions for each of our clients. These priorities stem from our values as a B Corp, which prioritize honesty and transparency in everything we do and every relationship we build.

Read on to learn more about how we implement our customer-first approach and cultivate the confidence to shepherd your decarbonization journey. 

The Challenge of Large-Scale Decarbonization

Decarbonization isn’t a straight line connecting point A and point B; rather, it’s a convergence of intersecting, jagged lines. Our team is poised to help you fit renewable energy into your sustainability plan. Sustainability teams need reliable resources and specialized knowledge to succeed.

In our experience, sustainability teams typically take cross-functional roles and encompass various departments. Sometimes our primary point of contact is a sustainability professional, including energy procurement specialists or sustainability leads. We’ve also collaborated with sustainability-adjacent team members, including facilities personnel, legal teams, and members of the finance unit. Some companies will even enlist the expertise of external, third-party consultants to help guide the process, and we work with them, too!

We recognize and appreciate that decarbonization requires collaboration with a wide range of internal and external parties. We also understand that organizations generally use “sustainability” as a blanket term that covers much more than reducing emissions and energy usage, which can further complicate matters. Corporate sustainability teams must tackle various efforts head-on—energy, waste management, water reduction and conservation. Our team of experts is equipped with the knowledge needed to help you address the energy needs of your job.

Each organization has its own unique sustainability pathway. Pivot is committed to establishing relationships with all necessary stakeholders to produce the best possible outcomes for everyone involved.

How Pivot Works With Clients

Understanding Client Needs and Goals

When we start a new relationship, we have one goal in mind: achieving success as defined by you, our client. In order to understand what success looks like for you, we open transparent lines of communication so we can understand your overall targets, timelines, budgets, and priorities.

We provide the best outcomes when we know what you expect from our partnership, the details of existing programs in the portfolio, and where you envision Pivot’s solutions fitting into your sustainability journey.

We Present Viable Routes to Achieve Agreed-Upon Goals

Leveraging our full suite of solar solutions, we can build and implement a customized strategy to achieve your sustainability goals. Because we are the developer, owner, and operator of our solar projects, we approach every relationship without product bias, enabling us to use a mix of our onsite and offsite solar options.

Our onsite solutions provide several benefits, including decreased long-term facility costs, increased property value, and lower carbon footprints. These solutions are used in projects like rooftop solar, ground mount solar canopy/carport solar, or energy storage. Solar plus storage projects allow your facility to generate and store surplus clean energy and discharge it when needed.

However, we know that onsite real estate can be in short supply or inhospitable for solar panels. Our offsite solutions like community solar subscriptions, renewable energy certificates (RECs), virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), and virtual net metering (VNM) still provide the benefits of solar energy without onsite installation and allow you to benefit from solar development and production.

Pivot Energy owns and operates our projects, meaning we can combine onsite and offsite products to build the best-customized solution for each client. Determining the best mix of products is crucial to a successful working relationship.

Sidebar: How Onsite and Offsite Solutions Can Work Together

Here’s one scenario where a combination of onsite and offsite solar options can create the most comprehensive, holistic solution.

You want to meet your energy needs, but there isn’t enough space on your property to install enough solar panels to accommodate your electricity use. An onsite product like rooftop solar will reduce operating costs and consumption, and you can offset the remaining energy with a community solar subscription. To take it a step further, you can utilize the savings from a community solar subscription (or revenue from a roof lease) to purchase RECs, increasing your climate impact.

In addition to delivering product options, we take an educational approach to inform you about how your customized program will help you reach your decarbonization goals. We explain how the program works, brief you on what products are included or available, and address the expected ROI using relevant data. 

Pivot Deploys Solutions

At this point in the process, we are ready to deploy our fleshed-out strategy. Since Pivot Energy is the owner and operator of our commercial and industrial (C&I) projects, we can get the ball rolling quickly while providing up-to-date insights into development timelines.

This spring, we announced an investment from Walmart toward 19 solar projects under development, 15 of which are community solar projects. This investment is driving the construction, operation, and maintenance of a diverse solar project portfolio across five states and produces 72 MW of clean, community solar power. 

Pivot Serves as the Trusted Partner Over the Lifespan of the Project

Deployment doesn’t mean the end of our relationship; we stay side-by-side with you from exploratory conversations throughout the lifespan of your project(s) and beyond. At this point, we’ll work together to build on your current products or introduce others to further your sustainability efforts.

Further, renewable energy legislation and policies are ever-changing and require constant monitoring. We work to ensure you remain knowledgeable of any policy or industry changes that could impact your organization and help you navigate those changes. Our evolving knowledge and communication let us help you increase your solar participation and address your decarbonization goals.

Honesty and transparency are the foundations on which we build our client relationships. We maintain ongoing touchpoints to learn what is working, stay on top of any timeline changes, and keep you informed on your contract status. We’re committed to building trust. That way, you can feel confident about returning to Pivot as a trusted solar partner long into the future.

The Pivot Difference

At Pivot, our client’s success is our success, which is why your needs come first and foremost. This belief is driven by our values as a B Corp, meaning we prioritize honesty, transparency, and delivering long-term value in every relationship we build.

Our team keeps their ear to the ground so we can keep you informed on changes that can impact your solar projects. We keep as much flexibility in our relationships as possible so that collaborations lead to success. If you are looking for a trusted partner on your journey to achieve your sustainability goals, Pivot is ready to help. Contact Pivot Energy today.

 

Pivot Energy

Contact Us

Together, solar and storage offer the unique ability to lower both demand and energy portions of a customer’s electricity bill.