Interview with Co-Owner, Aaron Burkhart

“We thrive… because we understand not just the engineering and how to make that engineering more efficient, but… the construction, construction mechanisms, regulation, permitting, and all the things required to produce a large solar project… that benefits society as a whole and not just an individual or a business.”

Andy DiPanfilo (AD): Doman Energy’s roots go all the way back to the late 1990s. How has the solar industry changed in that time?

Aaron Burkhart (AB): There have been a lot of changes, but the biggest shift has been solar’s transformation from– I wouldn’t necessarily use the word theoretical – but certainly from a new technology and a new industry to something much more established. In the 1990s, solar was young and expensive, so it really occupied a space dominated by wealthy early adopters. Today, the industry is very mature and very secure.

You can see a good example just by looking at outside financing. In the past, solar may have only been propped up by government subsidies or other things. But now you’ve got all the mechanisms that our capitalist system uses, from hedge fund investments to capital funds, all putting money into solar.

As for the technology itself, it has only continued to not become more cost-effective and more efficient. You can see that by looking at trackers and how things are designed. Then you have the modules. In the 90s, we were looking at a 120 watt-module or an 85-watt module, and those were a big deal. Today, we’re looking at 650 or 680-watt modules – these huge projects with drastically increased power output.

AD: Which makes it a much more feasible option for all parties, be they states, companies, or individual homes, right?

AB: Exactly. Another thing to consider is how much more time the industry has had to mature. And, by mature, I mean the chance to codify and produce standards that actually apply to the industry regulations and protections. Early on, solar was operating under standards set by the National Electric Code and policies like that. In an early industry, you kind of have to find guidelines that will apply to you.

But as solar continues to become more widely adopted and commonplace, it helps to produce better regulations and more efficient codified standards that are specific to the industry. You aren’t just looking at things that have fringe applications to what you’re doing just to get by. Now, regulators know what they’rere looking at. Permitting people know what they’re looking at. Engineers know what they’re looking at.

AD: Some people seem confused about the term “utility-level solar.” How do you describe what Doman does and does not do?

AB: So how we define utility solar really boils down to whether or not the system is directly tied to the utility. At this scale, you’re effectively producing a large amount of power that the utility then distributes to towns, counties, or groups of properties that, in turn, end up using that power. With solar, most people tend to think in terms of “commercial” versus “industrial.” Those mostly apply to residences or businesses where you’re putting panels on their rooftops. Those can be tied to the grid or not. As in, the panels really only exist to produce power for that home or that commercial structure, not for the larger community or grid as a whole.

So, the Doman team, while we have done commercial projects and we have that capability, our expertise is better suited for utility projects. In fact, that’s been our bread and butter, and we’ve earned a reputation for taking on the largest projects across the U.S. We thrive in that space because we understand not just the engineering and how to make that engineering more efficient, but we understand the construction, construction mechanisms, regulation, permitting, and all the things that required to produce a utility size project. Again, that’s a large-scale solar project that is tied to the grid and that benefits society as a whole and not just an individual or a business.”

AD: Doman has projects in the works that will produce more than 1GW/dc. Can you talk about your process for approaching large jobs like these?

AB: To be honest, approaching jobs like these is rather easy because Doman has really been at the forefront of standardizing processes within the industry. We already talked about how the industry has changed, and those changes have helped us create a comprehensive standardizing process. The beauty of that is that it doesn’t matter if a project is half the size or twice the size of our previous job; it’s just a matter of scale.

So, in the end, it doesn’t change a whole lot – other than maybe the number of drawings. How our team approaches many of the different solar projects we work on, whether a 500-megawatt job or a gigawatt job, is ultimately very similar. And because of our background, we have partners spread out around the industry who know about our ability to scale. We have people that know about the quality of the work that we do, and they will reach out to us and say, “Hey, we’ve got this large project, and we need a skilled team to help design it.”

AD: You’ve built Doman into a sort of one-stop shop for utility-scale solar projects. Can you explain how you accomplish this while maintaining such a close-knit team?

AB: So early on, we were operating mostly on the design side. But as we continued to grow, we identified more and more needs related to the engineering and development process. So, as we continued to build our network of pros – perhaps one person is a pro in SCADA design, and another person’s a pro in something else – we sort of integrated them into the larger Doman Energy Group. So, now we have this network of professionals that have been around for a long time, all of whom are different specialists bringing their own things to the table. They allow us to operate just like any other large engineering firm, but they’re more like partners.

So, we can maintain this small intermetal team while utilizing our broader network when they’re needed. It’s a big reason we can provide these turnkey solutions for every client that comes to us. They don’t need to manage any aspects of the engineering process – we’ve already got a pro we can pull in.

AD: How would you describe your client base? What types of businesses do they own? What are they trying to accomplish when they reach out to Doman?

AB: So, the Doman team will actually work with different industry players throughout the overall lifecycle of a project. And when I speak about the project lifecycle, I’m referencing the fact that a project doesn’t start with one group that takes it all the way to the end. In reality, you’ve got many different companies and organizations and handoffs contributing at different stages.

You’ve got teams that are your originators. They’re going out into the field, looking at the transit, and trying to reach out to farmers or local landowners. Their job is to secure a lease and create the potential for a project to be designed and built. That will then go to a developer, who will take it through the next steps. A lot of times, those steps are regulatory, permitting interconnection agreements; essentially getting the project ready for an EPC, or Engineering Procurement and Construction Firm.

The EPC will then engineer, design, and procure all the necessary equipment and material, construct the project, and then hand it off to a final owner. But in many cases, that EPC will either be selected by the owner who purchased _________ from the developer. In other cases, there’s a partnership between the EPC and the owner, or the EPC is the owner.

And that’s when Doman comes in. Often, we’ll operate as the “E” for a company that is functioning as the EPC. So, let’s assume “Company XYZ” is the EPC. They actually hire Doman to be their “E.” They might handle the procurement part, or they may internally do some of the construction management, but they need field teams to do the electrical or mechanical install.

It’s a long way of telling you that Doman’s clients and partners vary from originators to developers to owners of projects to EPCs. And we work with any and all of them to provide engineering services from developments to full engineering plan sets.

AD: You do your best to position Doman against so-called “big box” engineering firms. What does that term mean in the world of solar engineering?

AB: So when I use the term “big box firm,” I typically imagine a big office building with hundreds of staff members. These companies do engineering in all sorts of different fields. They do engineering for this industrial plant, or they do engineering for a residential development; for this and for that. Because they have this big presence, companies go to them for help with solar engineering.

But Doman is different because Doman only does solar engineering. That’s what we do, and that’s all we do. So, when I look at a big box firm, I see a “generalist.” While they can do the job, I can’t speak to how well they can do it. I also see a necessity for quantity and not quality. These massive firms have to engage in lots and lots of projects. That’s how they get their bills paid. When you do that, quality has to take a back seat. At Doman, we focus on the quality of our work - the quality of our solar projects - and forging partnerships with firms that need engineering expertise.

Truth be told: solar is not rocket science. This is very much a “wrench-turning” type of space. That means that the value is in the details. The value engineering approach we take is where a lot of your cost savings and opportunities lie. And it’s only those that know quality and know how to do the work well that can provide that value engineering, which ultimately pays for itself. By being “specialists” rather than “generalists,” we can end up saving our clients, particularly the large project clients, millions of dollars.

AD: Doman utilizes a proprietary engineering technique you often refer to as “the secret sauce.” Without going into detail, how does this approach allow you to reduce costs and maximize the value of your turnkey offerings?

AB: Our proprietary technique - the secret sauce, if you will - lies in our overall approach to engineering projects. Many engineering firms take an overtly mechanical approach to utility-level solar, installing the trackers, setting up the modules, etc. Once they have all this set up, then they go around and figure out how to wire it all together.

At Doman, we never allow ourselves to forget that we’re constructing an electrical power plant. With our approach, we can use the exact same number of racks and modules but end up creating a far more efficient wiring system. Time and time again, we see conductor and wire usage go down by 20, maybe 30%. The bigger the project, the bigger the savings, which is why our projects don’t only pay for themselves, but they do so in a fraction of the time.

The other major component of this is standardization. When you standardize properly, you’re essentially reproducing the same thing over and over. This makes the construction process faster and far clearer. When that happens, you’re cutting your electrical costs, your equipment costs – everything. All of that adds up.

AD: How does environmental and regulatory compliance fit into the Doman services package? Why is it so important to your potential clients?

AB: Environmental regulatory packages that we offer are crucial for compliance. And that’s not just for environmental agencies, but building departments, etc. If you’re a client, you probably don’t know how to go about and get your permits and all these other things. You need high-quality engineering and a high-quality team behind you to ensure you get all your permits through your AHJs, which stands for Authority-Having Jurisdictions. So, when you deal with any regulatory or permitting offices, Doman is standing behind you. We’re behind you to make sure that the AHJ has no questions and that they know precisely what you’re doing.

And then that goes further into environmental compliance. Remember, the DEQ (the Department of Environmental Quality), the EPA, and others have the authority to shut your project down if you’re not meeting compliance. I’ve seen it in the past where the inspector comes out and sees that you’re not keeping up on your environmental compliance and the things you should be doing during construction. If they see that, they’re going to stop your project.

So, to Doman, that environmental regulation service is all about protecting you, the client. It’s not just about having engineers behind you, but environmental scientists as well. Ultimately, what environmental regulators want is to see that you take what they do seriously. They want to see that you, as a construction team or as an owner, are being proactive and not reactive. And if you have engineers and scientists behind you that can talk to them in their language, support them, and ensure you’re meeting compliance, you’ll be further protected during the construction process and the permitting process.

AD: What do you see as the future of solar energy in the United States? More importantly, how does Doman fit into that vision?

AB: So the future of solar in the United States is not only increasing size and scope, but now it has to do with more DG, or “distributed generation projects.” This is similar to what you see with commercial projects, where they’re not necessarily tied to the grid but to certain businesses that are energy intensive. Now, when companies go to build a project or facility like that, they’re including solar on the front end.

I’ll give you an example. We’re currently working on some major hydrogen projects in the United States. However, as part of the construction of the hydrogen project itself, the clients are attaching these massive solar projects to it. Facilities like these pull water in from the ground and produce hydrogen as a product. There’s huge potential, but it’s also very energy intensive. So the solar we design and build never actually attaches to the grid; it’s just there to offset the massive power usage.

Other projects that have come up more recently include Bitcoin mining. I've heard other people say it before, “Bitcoin mining is so energy-intensive, and that's so bad for the environment.” But what we’ve seen is that a lot of firms or individuals who want to get into real Bitcoin mining or create massive servers or other computer-generated systems are attaching solar as part of the initial capital funding of their project. So there aren’t any environmental costs in terms of energy production. You're producing your energy right there on site. You’re powering your servers 100%, making them more sustainable and more environmentally friendly.

Lastly, you have BESS, which stands for battery energy storage systems. This is the solar industry’s next big partner. For years, the solar industry has focused on attaching projects to the grid, but that’s only because battery technology was yet to catch up with us. But now it has. And batteries are important because they address the problems many people bring up with green energy systems, which is intermittentness. With a BESS system, you can have on-demand direct power capability. Whether the grid goes down or you simply have peak points in the day where everyone turns on their AC, you have stored power to help mitigate it.

It’s very hard to turn on a gas power plant, or coal, or any other power plant. In fact, it could be days before they’re actually up and running. BESS provides direct power at the flick of a switch. And that also contributes to the overall viability of the solar and renewable industry as a whole. In times of crisis, disasters, etc., you can turn the systems on and off very quickly. So as we go forward, you’re going to see BESS integrated more and more frequently across the renewables sector.

AD: How does Doman continue to set itself apart from other firms in the industry?

AB: The biggest thing is the value engineering. Doman Energy will always pay for its services. Thanks to the “secret sauce,” I could save you $10 million in the overall price of your project. And that means that whatever the expenses to my team, whether it’s a million-dollar contract or otherwise, not only do we pay for our services, but we also have only saved you money. I tell everyone we’re not a “free engineering firm” but that we quite literally pay for ourselves.

It also comes back to the concept of quality and not quantity. That’s been a focus of ours from the very beginning. As a turnkey engineering firm, we want to be a full-service “E” for our partners and clients out there. It’s difficult to get internal engineering, let alone good engineering. When you partner with Doman, you get a highly-experienced team of engineers, specialists, and scientists behind you, as well as the larger Doman Energy Group network.

I think there’s a lot of potential weakness in treating engineering like a “line item.” A client might get to a point in the project and say, “Well, we’re ready for engineering; let’s get this plan set done.” If you’re a Doman partner, you can call us up. We’re going to review things early on to see if there are any “gotchas” or risks. We’re going to review contracts to make sure factors like power performance guarantees are correct. Engineering needs to be more than just another line on the balance sheet. It’s something that really needs to be there, not just for the early development period and primary engineering period, but during construction support and regulatory compliance. It also needs to be there at the end, during due diligence and the close of the project, to answer those tough questions.

When you’re closing out a project, the bank has its owner’s engineer or its due diligence team. That would be somebody like the DNVGLs of the world. The owner and the construction guys also need an engineer on their side; someone that’s coming to bat for them. When you have Doman as a partner, we’re going to battle DMVGLs and the banks on your behalf. We’re going to tell them, “No, this project is a success. It was a great build. That way, they can confidently close it out and move on to the next.”