When most renewable developers were winding down for the holidays, one solar company in the western United States decided to do things differently. Instead of waiting for the new year to begin planning, they kicked off their next 80-megawatt project in November 2024, mapping routes, aligning contractors, and submitting permits before municipal offices closed for the season.
By February 2025, while competitors were still finalizing budgets and staffing, their crews were already on site. And by summer, power was flowing to the grid three months earlier than scheduled. That early start didn’t just accelerate construction; it unlocked faster interconnection, improved cash flow, and strengthened investor confidence heading into 2026.
Before taking a proactive approach, the company struggled with the same friction that slows many renewable projects: disconnected data, manual reporting, and miscommunication between engineering and construction teams.
Permitting requests stalled. Design revisions took weeks to reach the field. EPC partners worked from outdated spreadsheets and conflicting versions of the same drawings. Each delay compounded the next, pushing milestone approvals further down the line and creating uncertainty for financiers and regulators alike.
In a fast-moving industry where incentive windows and energy pricing shift quickly, waiting until Q1 to align teams had become an expensive habit.
That changed when the company began its project integration phase in November 2024, using Vitruvi’s four operational pillars — Plan, Build, Control, and Integrate — to unify processes and eliminate bottlenecks.
Plan: GIS-based site layouts, environmental assessments, and permitting requirements were centralized in a single platform for all stakeholders.
Build: Construction sequencing, contractor assignments, and inspection schedules were digitized to enable real-time progress tracking.
Control: Cost and schedule dashboards replaced static spreadsheets, with automated alerts surfacing risks before they became delays.
Integrate: Engineering updates flowed seamlessly into field workflows, ensuring the latest designs were always in use.
By year’s end, procurement, permitting, and design were moving in parallel instead of sequentially, creating a smooth handoff to EPC partners when 2025 began.
Concept → Pre-Construction (Q4 2024)
Construction Launch (Q1 2025)
Commissioning (Q3 2025)
Luckily for them, they already had Vitruvi fully implemented and operational before the project kicked off. That readiness made a November start possible and kept the transition from design to construction seamless.
For developers who want to replicate that kind of head start, getting Vitruvi up and running now is essential. Implementation, configuration, and team training take time, so expediting setup in Q4 ensures the system is live and optimized before planning for 2026 begins in earnest.
For developers planning their 2026 build season, the same opportunity is on the table right now. A realistic timeline could look like this:
October–November 2025:
December 2025:
January–March 2026:
By the time spring arrives, teams that started implementation and planning in Q4 will already be building, while others are still chasing documentation, approvals, and software onboarding.
By starting early and managing every phase in one system, developers consistently achieve measurable gains:
Getting Vitruvi established now isn’t just a software decision; it’s a strategic one. The sooner your team is live, trained, and working in one connected system, the more momentum you carry into 2026.
In renewable development, time isn’t just money; it’s megawatts. Every week saved between design and commissioning shortens the path to profitability.
The teams that treat Q4 as the start of their next build cycle, not the end of this one, gain a clear advantage.
Book a Q4 Readiness Consultation with Vitruvi to get your platform, projects, and teams ready for a faster route from pipeline to powerline.