Development & Interconnection
Practical leadership from site screening and utility strategy through application readiness, technical coordination, and milestone execution.
Battery energy storage expertise
Experience that moves
storage projects forward.
Independent senior advisory for battery energy storage, interconnection, project development, technical diligence, and execution.
Executive-levelproject leadership
Full lifecycledevelopment through operations
Independenttechnology-agnostic advice
JM
Founder & PrincipalJohn MeineckeBESS SME LLCBuilt on real project experience
Senior insight where technical, commercial, and execution decisions meet.
John Meinecke is a senior utility-scale energy storage development and preconstruction executive. His experience spans greenfield development, interconnection, permitting, project economics, EPC procurement, design review, construction readiness, commissioning, and portfolio delivery.
BESS SME gives developers, owners, utilities, investors, and technology providers direct access to that executive-level perspective—without adding unnecessary organizational layers.
3 GW / 8 GWhBESS portfolio management experience
>200 MWstorage projects advanced through development
~1 GWLDES opportunities screened
What we do
Focused expertise.
Practical outcomes.
Flexible support for a single decision, a critical workstream, or the full development and execution lifecycle.
Technical & Commercial Diligence
Independent assessment of technology, performance, constructability, contracts, risk allocation, cost, schedule, and project bankability.
Owner’s Engineering
Senior-level oversight across design, procurement, EPC execution, commissioning, and the decisions that protect long-term asset value.
LDES & Emerging Technology
Technology screening, use-case alignment, siting, permitting, and commercialization pathways for long-duration and next-generation storage.
Portfolio Strategy
Portfolio-level prioritization, development planning, risk screening, capital strategy, and executive decision support for storage platforms.
Project Recovery
Focused intervention for projects facing schedule pressure, incomplete applications, execution gaps, or critical commercial decisions.
A focused first engagement
BESS Project
Jump Start.
Turn an early-stage storage opportunity into a practical development plan. BESS SME evaluates the project’s starting point, identifies the information and decisions that matter, and defines a prioritized path forward.
Request a Jump Start consultation ↗The outcome
A concise, decision-ready action plan.
Clear findings on what is known, what is missing, the principal risks, and the next actions required to advance the opportunity.
Typical areas of review
- Project objectives and commercial use case
- Site suitability and preliminary configuration
- Utility and interconnection strategy
- Technology and duration alignment
- Permitting and stakeholder considerations
- Development budget and milestone schedule
- Critical risks, information gaps, and next actions
Discovery
Review objectives, available information, immediate constraints, and the decisions the team needs to make.
Assessment
Evaluate site, interconnection, technology, permitting, schedule, development budget, and principal risks.
Action Plan
Deliver concise findings, information gaps, priorities, and recommended next actions.
Representative engagements
Experience applied to the decisions that matter.
Examples are representative and anonymized to protect client and project confidentiality.
Interconnection recovery
Organize and lead an accelerated application effort for an underdeveloped project facing a fixed submission deadline.
Municipal LDES planning
Evaluate technologies, use cases, siting, and permitting pathways for multiple public facilities and operating objectives.
Portfolio diligence
Screen storage opportunities for interconnection viability, development risk, commercial positioning, and capital requirements.
Who we help
DevelopersAsset ownersUtilitiesMunicipalitiesInvestorsTechnology providersEPC contractorsLarge energy users
Download BESS SME capabilities ↓How we help
More clarity.
Less friction.
Better projects.
We work comfortably across boardroom, utility, engineering, construction, and investment conversations—translating between disciplines and keeping the project objective in focus.
Talk with John ↗01
Utility-scale battery energy storage
02
Solar + storage and microgrids
03
CAISO and utility interconnection
04
EPC, procurement, and constructability
05
Technology and vendor evaluation
06
Permitting and site feasibility
07
Financial and commercial risk review
08
Data-center and resilient power strategy
Have a project or challenge?