Stok was brought in to support Informatica with project managing the interviewing of vendors and execution of contracts to install photovoltaics at its Redwood City facilities. With the ultimate goal of installing photovoltaics to offset the facilities’ annual electricity consumption, Stok’s specific goals were to:
At a Glance
Informatica
Redwood City, CA
Corporate
150,000 SF
Informatica (Owner)
- PV and Energy Storage Planning
The Challenge
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Conduct a feasibility study for carport mounted photovoltaics within Informatica’s parking lots
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Prepare a request for quotation (RFQ) summary document to request potential vendors submit their proposal for consideration
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Collaborate with responding vendors and summarize the RFQ materials submitted including financial and technical summaries, schedule, and other relevant details
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Present preliminary RFQ findings to the client’s senior leadership team
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Prepare detailed financial analysis including capital and operating expenses, rebates and incentives, return on investment timelines, and other financial details in order to evaluate the feasibility of the project
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Conduct interviews of all relevant vendors and provide recommendations for the appropriate vendor to move forward to contract agreements
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Support the Informatica team in reviewing and amending contract language for the final approved plans to install the system
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In partnership with Informatica, create a refined summary with a common language that (1) empowered the business to move forward and (2) supported ongoing decision making and communication within Informatica throughout the project
Scott Jung
“Stok was a responsive, reliable photovoltaic paneling partner and applied their technical proficiency to get us to project completion in an efficient way. Their team’s financial acumen was critical in running calculations that allowed us to demonstrate the positive cash flow on top of environmental benefits, which facilitated critical stakeholder buy-in and ultimately supported the project’s success. It was incredibly helpful throughout to have an expert like Stok advise on cost expectations, which gave us confidence in Informatica’s investment in solar. Beyond their technical capabilities, Stok was simply fun to work with; I enjoyed building a rapport with the Stok team over the course of this project and would readily engage them again.”
By the Numbers
Capital Improvement Project
>$4M
Utility Expense Savings Over 30 Years
>$5M
Of One Building’s Annual Energy Consumption Offset (1,400,000 kWh)
100%
Of Emissions Prevented Annually (29,760 MTCO2e Over 30-Year Expected Life Of Project)
992MTCO2e
Photo courtesy: Unsplash
The Solution
FINANCIAL TOOL FOR DECISION MAKING
The Stok team prepared a comprehensive financial tool providing the Informatica senior leadership, including the CFO, with salient information including capital and operating expenses, rebates and incentives, return on investment timelines, and other financial details to move forward with an over $4 million capital improvement project.
TIME-SENSITIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
In under a year’s time, the Stok team began its engagement with Informatica and successfully completed a feasibility study and a detailed request for quotation effort, represented the client with prospective vendors, assisted in the negotiation of terms for the project, and ultimately were successful in arriving at an agreed upon contract between Informatica and a well-qualified vendor to meet Stok’s client’s needs. This included time-sensitive negotiations and analysis comparing Net Energy Metering 2.0 (NEM 2) and Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3) to evaluate the impact of local policy being adopted at the local Public Utilities Commission.
SOLAR FEASIBILITY GUIDANCE
Through the course of the project, Informatica considered the installation of rooftop mounted photovoltaics. While a complementary report was prepared summarizing the same details as the carport installation, the Stok team analyzed both options for capacity and financial feasibility and provided guidance to the client indicating that the carport installation was the best option. With Stok’s guidance, Informatica shifted back to the carport design for optimized results.
