In a new episode of Building What’s Next™ The Podcast, Brent Bergland, General Manager of Mortenson’s High Voltage Transmission group outlined the company’s commitment and approach to its entry into the Energy Storage industry with a simple, but precise statement. “We aren’t tire-kickers. When we get involved in a marketplace, we go after it and we resource it.”
Mortenson first announced that it would enter the market in early 2016, but rather than diving in and treating it like its other energy businesses (Mortenson is the #1 Wind and #2 Solar builder in North America), the company took steps to deeply understand the key players and get a handle on the chaotic regulatory environment. It also took the industry’s pulse with an extensive survey of industry professionals. “What we found is that the study helped us with validating what we were thinking early on,” said Bergland of the study. Download the study here. “But we also found that there were some differences of opinion from some of the stakeholder groups,” he continued. “It was interesting to see some of the feedback about the timeframes in which they believe major changes are going to be underway.” The takeaway is that while more conversations are needed, the industry is already in motion.
In the podcast, Bergland outlined the state of the industry, and the evidence for why Mortenson believes it can be a significant leader in an emerging space that will undoubtedly transform energy distribution worldwide. “(Customers) are looking to us and the experience we’ve had over the last 20 years doing energy and infrastructure projects to make their businesses better,” Bergland noted, citing self-performed work as a key benefit. “That allows us to be that much better at executing these projects because our own people are doing the work and building on our lean innovation culture. And in the end, our customers are the beneficiary of that way of doing business.”