Executive Summary
How can a renewable energy asset owner expect to drive operational efficiencies in their assets and maximise value without visibility of how well the assets are managed, clarity of existing risks and a centralised & auditable view of communications with asset managers?
It has become clear to this client that they must resolve these issues to ensure they are maximising the value of their assets and the performance of their 3rd party contractors and therefore their return for investors.
About the Client
“Since entering the renewables market in 2010, they have grown to become the largest investor of solar power in Europe, as well as growing to become a leading investor in onshore wind. We currently manage a global portfolio of renewable energy assets valued at more than £4.2 billion.
This has created a portfolio of clean energy assets with a combined capacity of 3 Gigawatts, and last year we generated enough energy to power Greater Manchester.”
The Challenges
Technical performance and operational performance are the two key factors impacting the output of an energy asset and therefore the value. Unless risks are effectively mitigated, contractors are in the right place at the right time and issues are resolved, planned & unplanned downtime can reduce the overall output of even the most performant assets.
Manual communication channels with 3rd parties slows this process down further, and lack of direct visibility of issues and risks related to the assets means the owners are left on a need-to-know basis at the discretion of the third parties – not a powerful position to be in when needing to chase information and updates to push through resolutions and maximise the objectives of the owners and investors.
The Solution
psKINETIC worked closely with the asset management teams to understand the problems faced and collect views from a range of stakeholders. This was done through a combination of group workshops onsite and remote plus 1-to-1 interviews.
The business requirements could then be collated, prioritised and an improvement roadmap proposed. This included the recommended implementation approach and estimate for a solution to automate and digitise this area of the business.
Considerations were also made for how processes would evolve with the various 3rd parties, integration with their systems and consolidation of ways of working as much as possible.
Results
The output of the project was a Business Requirements Document and strategy for the next steps in implementation of a solution.
This provided OR leadership with clear next steps and related costs, and enabled internal discussions to progress in a meaningful way compared to the conceptual discussion limited to before the project.
This project provided the essential step of the process to bring to life the discussions that had previously been purely theoretical, and allowed the business case to be properly defined.
Armed with this view, the internal OR project champion could easily show the value of the project, outlining clear next steps, route to value and enabled them to secure funding for the next stage of the project.