Inland Investor Group

Inland Energy, Inc.(“Inland”) was founded in 1988 in Newport Beach, CA by Buck Johns, a successful engineer and infrastructure entrepreneur in Southern California. When the State of California announced in the mid 1990’s that it was de-regulating the electric market and opening up generation to private competition, Mr. Johns was poised to lead his newly formed company into the forefront of the private power plant development business. 

Inland’s first project was the 830 MW High Desert Power Project (“HDPP”) in Victorville, CA. This $650 mil state-of-the-art plant came on line in 2003 and went on to win the coveted Power Magazine “Power Plant of the Year” award (see “Projects” below). Building upon the success of HDPP, over the next several years Inland’s team developed numerous private power plants in Southern California, including the 43 MW Cabazon Wind farm, the 560 MW Victorville 2 Hybrid Project and the 560 MW Palmdale Hybrid Power Plant; most recently, Inland, along with it's Nigerian partner,  is leading the development of a 2000MW gas fired power plant for Lagos State in Nigeria. (see “Projects” for more information).

Inland’s team quickly grew to include specialists in all aspects of power plant; enabling Inland to handle: public relations, permitting, site acquisition, power purchase agreements (PPA’s), selection of EPC contractors and negotiation and execution of EPC contracts, and financing and financial modeling, among many other tasks. As a result, Inland now offers full-service energy related development assistance. Since Inland’s role does not typically involve ownership (other than small carried interests), Inland’s team can provide objective, independent analysis, thereby ensuring an optimal outcome from a cost and technology viewpoint. Inland’s experience and reputation in the industry means that a project that involves Inland’s development expertise will be taken seriously by the marketplace from the outset. 

EB-5 Projects 
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In 2008, Inland expanded its areas of expertise to include the “Investor Visa” business, commonly referred to as the Federally sponsored EB-5 program; the program involves guiding foreign nationals through a U.S. State Department structured process that enables qualified individuals and families to obtain permanent Green Cards by investing $500,000 (initially) to $800,000 (currently) in projects in the U.S. that create 10 full time jobs (per foreign investor) for Americans. Inland’s role is to connect foreign investors with qualifying projects while guiding them through a rigorous and time-consuming vetting process. Inland has successfully helped place more than 100 foreign applicants through five projects worth nearly $100 million, creating thousands of jobs for Americans.