A panel of experts recently shared their insights on how to reduce key aspects of development risk for energy storage projects. Titled “Keys to Building a Low-Risk Project: Strategies to de-risk the EPC and commissioning phases of ES projects,” the session was part of the Energy Storage Forum on November 17 and 18, 2015, which took place within the APPrO 2015 conference.
Paolo Cattelan of SNC Lavalin noted that one of the most useful pieces of advice for reducing project risk is to ensure that all construction requirements are fully determined during the design phase. In addition, it is crucial to ensure that all relevant skill-sets including project management services and software are available when and as needed during the project, to ensure construction proceeds smoothly.
Allison Miller of Aon underlined the value of maintaining access to expertise with a depth of experience in relevant engineering areas including fire protection measures, equipment spacing, liquids containment, site protection & security, health & safety, etc. She also noted that especially when dealing with suppliers in the developing world, it is crucial to have good logistics, contingency and continuity plans to avert supply chain issues.
Rob McIntyre of ElectroFed stressed the value of having pre-qualification of vendors with respect to supply chain quality plans, risk mitigation plans, supply chain strength, and logistics. He also advised developers to be careful about long lead times for some out-of-the-ordinary items.
Kevin Whitehead of Whitby Hydro recommended approaches for ensuring that stakeholders are not overlooked on a project. Using a responsibility matrix that includes code authorities, LDCs, the Electrical Safety Authority, TSSAs, approval authorities, contractors, customers, and insurers, etc., can help to facilitate this.
Because the storage industry is not yet highly standardized, it is important to define control system responsibilities up front, Eric Tate of Eaton noted.
Mark Siira of ComRent noted that the IEEE 1547 standard will be updated in 2017 and explained how managers can often refer to an ASHRAE data center commissioning standard as a reference for commissioning other kinds of systems when there are no standards or guidelines for testing in effect.
The NRC has plans to publish a summary of the panel discussion as part of further proceedings from the Energy Storage Forum in the near future. For more information readers may contact Darren Jang at the NRC or Jake Brooks at APPrO.