August 2026 | By Joseph Tassone Jr.
A few years ago, I wrote about The Importance of Building a Development Pipeline and the danger of becoming so consumed with executing today’s projects that you stop creating tomorrow’s opportunities. After watching the renewable energy market evolve, I believe it even more strongly today: you can never have enough quality pipeline.
One of my frustrations is hearing developers say, “Right now, we’re only focused on executing what we already have.” Execution is obviously critical, but imagine if Apple announced tomorrow, “We’re only going to focus on improving our current iPhone. We’re no longer focused on acquiring new customers or developing future products.” Investors would understandably question the company’s growth strategy.
Why should real estate or energy development be viewed differently?
Jim Collins and Jerry Porras famously described the “Tyranny of the OR” versus the “Genius of the AND.” Renewable development is a perfect example. We need to relentlessly execute today’s projects and continually create tomorrow’s opportunities.
Anyone who has spent meaningful time developing renewable energy projects understands an uncomfortable reality: not everything in the pipeline will get built. Depending on the market, technology, interconnection environment, permitting requirements, land constraints, and economics, project attrition can exceed 50%. A developer looking at 400 MW of pipeline therefore shouldn’t simply think, We have 400 MW. The better question is, how much of that 400 MW will actually survive?
Projects disappear for countless reasons. Interconnection costs change. Utility timelines move. Permits become difficult. Title issues emerge. Local opposition develops. Economics change. Some problems can be solved, while others simply kill a project. Pipeline isn’t just about growth. Pipeline is protection against attrition.
There is obviously a cost associated with building pipeline, but that expense needs to be viewed in the context of the total project capital stack and the potential value being created. Getting a project to site control, and in many cases even submitting it into the interconnection queue, represents a relatively small percentage of the capital ultimately required to bring a project through construction and operation. If a broader early-stage pipeline results in even one additional project reaching fruition, the value of that successful project can massively outweigh the incremental expense associated with the opportunities that did not advance.
Site control creates another important advantage: it protects opportunity from competition. Securing control of strategically located land doesn’t guarantee a successful project, but it can prevent a competitor from securing the same property while giving the developer time to evaluate interconnection, permitting, economics, and other development risks. In that sense, site control isn’t simply a development expense. It is also a relatively inexpensive way to preserve optionality.
I’ve been involved in renewable energy and wireless telecommunications development for nearly 30 years and have worked around thousands of projects. I’ve seen scores of properties that looked mediocre when initially secured ultimately become home runs. I’ve also watched the opposite happen. The obvious “A site” failed because of interconnection, title, permitting, constructability, or another unexpected issue, and suddenly the second or third choice property became the most valuable site in the portfolio. I’ve watched the third string backup become the starter.
There is also a tendency to pull back on origination when markets become difficult. Yet some of the best opportunities can emerge precisely during nascent markets, moratoriums, regulatory uncertainty, and down cycles. Competition may decrease. Developers may stop originating. Landowners may become more receptive. Markets evolve, moratoriums eventually end, regulations change, and interconnection conditions shift. The developer who continued intelligently building pipeline during the difficult period may emerge with something extremely valuable when the market turns.
Of course, this doesn’t mean chasing every property or celebrating enormous pipelines filled with projects that have little chance of succeeding. A pipeline without discipline is just largely worthless inventory. Good development still requires intelligent site selection, realistic screening criteria, disciplined capital allocation, strong landowner relationships, and relentless execution.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over three decades in project development is that you often don’t know which opportunity will ultimately become your best opportunity. The project that looks like a home run today may disappear six months from now, while the project sitting quietly in the background may ultimately be the one that gets built.
So, execute the projects in front of you. Push them forward. Solve problems. Hit milestones. But keep originating. Keep controlling good properties. Keep creating options. Keep building pipeline, because having more quality opportunities isn’t a distraction from execution. It’s what ensures you have something worth executing tomorrow.
Joe Tassone Jr. is the founder and a principal of onCORE Origination, with 30 years of project development experience and expertise in renewable energy development. Visit www.oncoreorig.com for more information.