Investors are now buying into projects pre-construction and taking a 30 or 40 year investment horizon. Under the traditional Turnkey EPC model, these projects are delivered by a Contractor tied in to a 2 or 3 years performance contract. As projects are generally won on cost, these contractors are under extreme competitive price pressure.
To date issues on projects often have their origins in poor design or poor implementation and by the time they are addressed (generally after construction is finished), they can be impossible to resolve cost-effectively.
Skyray helps mitigate risks to long-term investors by providing detailed design reviews and Owner’s Engineering and Construction Management Supervision of projects. We do so using our hands on experience across GWs of projects. We offer:
Helping Clients specify, qualify and select the right contractors and components.
For projects where a Client is working with a main Contractor and wishes to ensure that the design supports their long-term goals.
Applying experienced personnel to manage construction contracts on behalf of Clients and to ensure that the projects are built in accordance with their designs as well as local industry standards.
“As a former MD of an EPC I understand the pressure there is to deliver at least cost against a given 2-3 year PR figure. As an advisor to some of the largest investors in the world I understand the need to deliver long-term high-quality infrastructure assets. Through Skyray I hope to better align the two”
Mike Carter – Head of OE Services
Skyray deploys effective and experienced local site managers to ensure that projects are built safely, to specification and with the care required when a project can be made up of millions of separate components.
Although much of the focus is on the major components, in solar PV the details matter. The Skyray team has regularly seen sites with the same major components delivering completely different levels of performance, due to large part as to how the details are managed. Robust quality management and site inspection and testing procedures are essential, particularly given that any issues missed during PAC, IAC and FAC phases become the owner’s responsibility to resolve.
Contractors who have built a project have a clear conflict of interest when assessing the performance of that project at commissioning. Independent testing removes this conflict of interest and allows more thorough review and challenge.
Often arise with O&M contractors often not best placed to investigate major issues with performance and manage major refits, repairs and repowering.
We offer:
FAT – Factory Acceptance Tests
PAC, IAC & FAC – Commissioning and performance testing (IEC 62446)
Operational phase
“Site testing and commissioning isn’t difficult – it just needs to be done properly, helping to provide the right level of challenge and review“
Alain Jolly – Site Lead
Contact us to discuss about our owner’s engineering service.