Solar & battery storage

Paul Johnson PMP · NABCEP PVIP

Project manager for solar and BESS, from construction through operations

About ten years in solar and battery storage, from residential installs to 250+ MW utility-scale construction, owner's-rep QA/QC on a 172 MW BESS, and most recently spares, procurement and reliability work for an operating portfolio. Before solar, a U.S. Army aviation officer.

Texas & Europe · works remotelyAvailable for contract and project work

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How I can help

An extra set of experienced hands, before and after COD

During construction

Build → COD

Owner's-rep QA/QC & field inspections

Electrical inspections, NCRs and punch lists driven to closure, energization readiness.

SWPPP compliance support

Plan review, inspection schedules, BMP and corrective-action tracking, and records kept audit-ready. Field inspections when I'm on site.

Procurement & long-lead tracking

Owner-furnished equipment, submittals and delivery schedules tracked against the construction plan.

Commissioning & closeout review

Test reports, as-builts, warranties and turnover packages checked before the owner accepts them.

Operations & O&M

After commissioning

Critical spares & quote review

Criticality ranking, stocking levels and storage, and vendor spares quotes checked against actual asset counts.

O&M budget & procurement tracking

Budget vs actual, POs and vendors, tariff questions, and a clean handoff into the CMMS.

Reliability problem re-scope

Root cause from drawings and SCADA data, a right-sized fix, and an RFP package vendors can bid on.

Contingency & interim operations support

Cover during staff gaps, outages or vendor transitions: vendor coordination, issue logs and owner reporting until things are stable.

Across both: part-time project management for upgrades, retrofits and vendor projects that need a steady PM but not a full-time hire.

Selected results

Recent work in numbers

$2.16M → ~$110K

Re-scoped a backup-power fix across three BESS sites from civil construction to an equipment-focused solution.

172 MW · 206 Megapacks

Owner's-rep electrical QA/QC through energization: inspections, NCRs, punch lists.

~$10M

Two-year spares budget across a multi-site solar and BESS portfolio, 10+ vendors.

300+ installs

Residential solar delivered as construction manager, with annual installs up 10.9% and 5% in consecutive years.

Experience

The whole project life, from the field to the owner's side

Operations

Owner-side asset management

Operating utility-scale solar & BESS portfolio

Spares strategy, stocking levels and procurement across multiple sites.
Vendor quote review, budget-vs-actual tracking, and right-sized fixes for recurring reliability problems.

Quality

Owner's-rep QA/QC, BESS

172 MW, 206-Megapack battery storage facility

Electrical inspections of MV/LV cabling, grounding, terminations, protection and SCADA.
NCRs and punch lists driven to closure; energization readiness with the EPC, OEM and utility.

Construction

Utility-scale solar & substation

EPC project management and electrical supervision

Supervised 60+ electricians on 250+ MW projects: collection systems, inverters, SCADA and HV infrastructure.
Managed budgets, procurement, design review and construction on utility solar and a substation project.

Commercial

Commercial & nonprofit solar

Multi-state portfolio, contract through permission to operate

Coordinated developers, EPCs, investors and owners through design, permitting, interconnection and commissioning.

Residential

Residential solar & storage

Construction management, design and sales

Led crews on 300+ installs and the first multifamily projects in a region; built a solar division for an established roofing company.

Service

Captain, U.S. Army Aviation

Iraq · Kosovo

Commanded aviation units; operations, logistics and safety in combat and peacekeeping settings.

Credentials

PM: Project Management Professional (PMP)
PV: NABCEP PV Installation Professional (PVIP)
BESS: Advanced Energy Storage, 40 hr (2024)
Design: SEI PV303 Advanced Design & Microgrids
Code: NEC 2020 PV & Storage, 30 hr
Safety: OSHA 30 · NFPA 70E
Storm: SWPPP training
Edu: B.S., Auburn University

Focus areas

Utility-scale solarBESSOwner's-rep QA/QC Spares & procurementO&M budgetsVendor management EPC oversightCommissioningSWPPPInterim operationsSubstations

Tools

ProcoreBluebeamAuroraHelioScopeSalesforceMS Office

Contact

If a project needs an extra set of experienced hands, during construction or after COD, I'm happy to talk.

paul@impactprojectadvisors.com linkedin.com/in/pej217

Project work is done through Impact Project Advisors, my veteran-owned Texas company.