Facility Innovations Group

34 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 when it comes to navigating tax deductions and credits, often introducing their customers to overlooked savings opportunities. Based in Austin, Texas, Facility Innovations Group has employees in three states and an extended network of subject matter experts throughout the country. “We’re adding new talent every month,” LeVeck said. “We’re forecasting $50 million in revenue next year. This year, we have $3.6 million currently under construction and another $17.5 million under contract, with a $100 million-plus utility-scale solar farm in active development in South Texas,” he said. The projects include a solar microgrid for a data center in Champaign County, Illinois, and solar projects for a national chain of convenience stores, including solar for the chain’s distribution centers. LeVeck declines to recommend specific energy improvements or brands, saying, “We are agnostic about specific technologies, products and services in the building energy space. We sit on the side of the facility owner. We choose the solutions we believe make the most sense for each situation. What works best for a steel manufacturing plant is probably not going to be the right mix of solutions for a large office building.” In the renewable energy space, LeVeck believes site-level microgrids must be an important focus for the future. “Organizations that need resiliency, that value uptime in their operations, don’t want to rely on the local electric power grid because of infrastructure issues,” he said, adding that factors such as increased power demand by electric vehicles, electrification of building energy processes previously fueled with direct fossil fuel combustion, and congestion of electric utility grids virtually ensure increases in brownouts and blackouts. “Facility managers need to develop contingency plans,” he said. “We can design, engineer and build a local microgrid for them, and then they don’t have to worry about grid reliability issues. That’s the future, I believe.” FACI L I T Y INNOVAT IONS GROUP