Solar 101: How It Works and Why It’s Worth It

Jonathan Cox • June 25, 2025

The Future Is Built on Sustainable Design 

The construction industry is undergoing a transformation. As the global demand for renewable energy grows and infrastructure becomes more environmentally accountable, solar farms and sustainable construction are taking center stage. At Keeley, we’re not just keeping pace with the future—we’re helping build it.


Solar 101: How It Works on a Larger Scale 

Solar farms, also known as photovoltaic (PV) power stations, use large-scale arrays of solar panels to generate electricity. Unlike rooftop systems, solar farms are designed for grid-level energy production, often covering acres of land with thousands of interconnected panels. 

Here’s how it works: 

  • Solar Panels: Mounted on ground-fixed or tracking systems, these capture solar energy efficiently across large areas. 
  • Inverters and Transformers: These convert the DC output from the panels into AC power suitable for grid transmission. 
  • Grid Integration: Power from solar farms is fed into utility grids or microgrids, providing energy to thousands of homes, industries, and facilities. 
  • Energy Storage Systems (ESS): Battery solutions allow excess energy to be stored and released when demand peaks or sunlight is low. 


Why It’s Worth the Investment 

  1. Scalable Power Production: Solar farms can generate anywhere from a few megawatts to hundreds, supplying clean energy on a massive scale. 
  2. Long-Term ROI: Though upfront costs can be high, operational expenses are minimal, with low maintenance and zero fuel costs. 
  3. Regulatory and Tax Incentives: Governments continue to back utility-scale renewables with grants, incentives, and favorable zoning policies. 
  4. Land Optimization: Underutilized or non-arable land can be repurposed for solar farms, creating economic value while preserving agricultural zones. 
  5. Carbon Offset Benefits: Solar farms dramatically reduce emissions compared to traditional energy sources, aligning projects with ESG goals and climate commitments. 


The Future Is Built on Sustainable Civil Design 

Sustainable design isn’t limited to buildings—it’s revolutionizing civil construction, too. Whether it’s roads, bridges, or public infrastructure, sustainable practices are reshaping how we approach large-scale projects: 

  • Low-Carbon Materials: Incorporating recycled aggregates, low-emission concrete, and eco-asphalt into construction workflows. 
  • Stormwater Management: Designing with permeable pavements and green drainage systems to control runoff and improve water quality. 
  • Site Optimization: Minimizing land disruption and integrating renewable installations like solar or wind within transportation and industrial corridors. 
  • Energy Infrastructure Integration: Combining civil works with utility-scale solar installations to power public infrastructure directly from renewable sources. 


By embedding sustainability into every stage of the civil construction process, we not only meet evolving regulatory demands—we also help future-proof infrastructure for the next generation. 

The future of construction lies at the intersection of energy, infrastructure, and environmental responsibility


Check out Keeley’s Solar projects here: 

https://www.keeleyconstruction.com/projects/engie-solar-panel-farm 

https://www.keeleyconstruction.com/projects/7v-solar-ranch 

https://www.keeleyconstruction.com/projects/cofeen-solar-farm 

https://www.keeleyconstruction.com/projects/baldwin-solar-farm 


By Jonathan Cox June 13, 2025
Our User Experience, Accounting, People Operations, Project Controls, and CMiC teams continue to work hard to get the initial CMiC integrations across the finish line as quickly as possible. The integrations are incredibly complex, and the UX has battled through numerous challenges to get these integrations up and running. Please see below for some important updates regarding the integrations that are currently underway – including what those integrations will entail once complete. If you have specific questions regarding integrations or how they impact you, please reach out to the Project Controls team within your business unit. Concur Integration Live as of Friday 6/13 Good news – the Concur integration is officially up and running! Keeley’ns should be able to once again access to Concur to code & approve expenses. The integration between Concur and CMiC will ensure job numbers and cost codes in Concur match the information in CMiC for accurate coding. The integration runs nightly, so if a job, cost code, or category is set up, it will be available the next day. The Project Controls team will set up any cost codes that are missing on the appropriate jobs in CMiC. Please code and approve all expenses in Concur ASAP to help us in getting caught up from the extended dark period! Single Sign On (SSO) Anticipated Rollout June 19 As of next Thursday, June 19, we will be rolling out SSO to all CMiC users. This means that the login credentials you created to log into CMiC will be overridden by your Microsoft 365 SSO login (the same username & password as your other Keeley accounts). All users will receive an email the morning of the launch with further instructions for signing into CMiC using SSO. Salesforce Anticipated Rollout: Mid-June As some may know, the Salesforce integration was launched last week – but after experiencing some issues with data moving from CMiC into Salesforce, the integration was shut off until the issue is resolved. The Salesforce integration with CMiC will share opportunity information between the two systems – meaning an opportunity created in Salesforce will be shared to CMiC. It will also share job information (such as job number) that is updated in CMiC to Salesforce once a job is initiated. The current integration will NOT transfer opportunities that are created in CMiC into Salesforce. The preferred place to create opportunities is Salesforce, and any new opportunities that are created in CMiC will not appear in Salesforce. Stay tuned for any additional info you need to know regarding the Salesforce integration as it is (re)launched. UKG Anticipated Rollout: Mid-July The integration between UKG and CMiC is quite intense… Many functions being completed in UKG need to be automatically pushed into CMiC – employee creation, direct deposit updates, tax information, etc. This integration does just that! Currently, this information is being shared through manual data entry. This integration will be a major step forward for our Payroll, People Operations, and IT teams! Redlist Anticipated Rollout: Late June-Early July Redlist is used to track equipment information as well as time entry for the Fleet team to charge time to trucks and equipment. The integration between CMiC and Redlist will ensure that all job information is correct in Redlist, and that all equipment information is correct in CMiC. It will also automatically share the time entry data from Redlist to CMiC for Payroll processing. Fieldpoint Anticipated Rollout: Mid-Late June The Paving group uses Fieldpoint for work order management and time entry within the national/maintenance teams. This integration will push time entry data from Fieldpoint into CMiC as well as employee data from CMiC into Fieldpoint. It will also send work order information from Fieldpoint to create jobs in CMiC. The only remaining piece of this integration that is not yet complete is the automatic transfer of time entry data from Fieldpoint into CMiC – which is expected mid-late June.
By Jonathan Cox May 29, 2025
Friday, May 30th | The CMiC team has officially gotten POs working in the system! The Accounting team also worked hard yesterday to push through roughly 1,000 invoices into users’ queues! However, any PO invoices entered yesterday were not able to be tied to a PO due to the issues we were previously experiencing. There are roughly another 3,000 invoices remaining to be entered and assigned to users. With the PO issue fixed, these 3,000 should now be able to be entered into the system properly. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR USERS:  There will be some PO invoices in your queue in CMiC (the ones entered yesterday) that will need to be coded & approved following the temporary process put in place on Wednesday – code the invoice and enter the PO number as a comment on the invoice. This process will ensure the Accounting team can properly tie that invoice to the PO on the back-end. If your PO invoice comes over without any automatic coding, this is the process you will follow. For any PO invoices entered beginning today, the invoice should already be automatically coded according to the PO. For these invoices, you’ll just check for accuracy and then approve. For additional training resources regarding how to code & approve invoices, visit the Keeley’n Hub. If you have any questions or need direct support on AP coding & approval, please contact the Project Controls team via your CMiC Teams Chats, or the Project Accountants for your Business Unit. Wednesday May 28th | , CMiC is still not working as intended as it relates to quantities on PO invoices. This has resulted in a delay in getting PO invoices uploaded into CMiC and into users’ queues – which impacts both AP and T&M billings. In order to get vendors & partners paid in a timely manner (according to our terms & contracts), as well as get T&M bills out as soon as possible, we are going to move forward with uploading PO invoices into CMiC without tying them directly to a PO – essentially turning them into Misc invoices. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR USERS: There will be a slight temporary change to our process. Effective immediately, all PO invoices should be treated as Misc invoices. We are working diligently to get CMiC working properly and begin the normal process ASAP, but in the interim users should follow the same coding & approval process for PO invoices as you do for Misc invoices – with the additional step of adding the PO number as a comment on the invoice. As of Wednesday evening May 28th, users will start seeing more invoices hit your queues to code and approve. Over the next week, please make sure you are coding & approving invoices as quickly as possible while we get caught up on AP & AR in CMiC. You can follow the below steps to complete this. Your first step is to code the invoice appropriately – this will be the case whether your invoice is for a PO or not. If your invoice IS for a PO – you should enter the associated PO number as a comment on the invoice. Once coded and the PO number entered in the comments, you can approve your invoice. If you have any questions or need direct support on AP coding & approval, please contact the Project Controls team via your CMiC Teams Chats, or the Project Accountants for your Business Unit. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we ensure we are continuing to take care of our people and our partners throughout this massive change.
By Jonathan Cox May 22, 2025
Until the integration between CMiC and Concur is fully up and running, Keeley’ns should continue to not use Concur. While Concur is unavailable, please do not code or submit any expenses. Once the integration is ready, Keeley’ns will be submitting April and May expenses together in the same report as we get caught up from the blackout period. We expect the integration to be ready by the end of the month. Once in Concur, you’ll note that the coding has been changed to now match CMiC: There is no longer an ‘Extra’ field. Work orders will now be added to the Job #. Equipment numbers will have an extra “0” (ex: TK-400 is now TK-0400). Please continue to stay out of Concur until you receive the green light that the integration is up and running and that the system is ready for use. You can reach out to the Accounting Team with any questions.