This thought leadership piece provides insights from Rob Lydan and Michael Carreau of Hatch’s renewable energy team. The two offer perspectives for mining companies on the economics of wind and solar energy. They also present the challenges of integrating hybrid power solutions, and the 10-20% potential cost savings from moving towards alternative energy solutions.
If you asked miners to describe renewable power, you’d often hear words like ‘unreliable’, ‘expensive’, and ‘risky’, says Rob Lydan. That was up until quite recently. Lydan acknowledges that for many years, solar, wind, hydro, and other forms of renewable energy were intriguing. But, they seemed too expensive and too cutting-edge for the comfort of the mining industry. However, that’s all begun to change.
Over the past few months, the capital costs for renewables have continued to drop considerably. Consequently, many renewable solutions are now less expensive than diesel. “Wind power in a remote mining installation can reduce your cost of energy by 10-20%,” says Michael Carreau, Hatch’s Director of Renewable Power.
At the same time, the ability to engineer a hybrid renewable solution that is highly reliable has increased. With proper implementation and education, Carreau and Lydan are convinced that a hybrid renewable energy system can work just as reliably as running diesel generators on their own.
Take a look at the PDF for the full interview.
Phoventus can help you update your Arc Flash Risk Assessment and ensure compliance with codes and regulations as well as safeguarding personnel and the electrical installations.
In fact, several regulations, codes, and standards define requirements for Arc Flash safety. Above all, these include OSHA, NFPA 70E, CSA Z462, IEEE 1584-2018, and NESC.
Also, article 130.5 of NFPA 70E requires employers to perform an Arc Flash Hazard Analysis for electrical equipment. And, to update the study every five years.
In particular, several regulations, codes, and standards define requirements for Arc Flash safety, including OSHA, NFPA 70E, CSA Z462, IEEE 1584-2018, and NESC. Article 130.5 of NFPA 70E requires employers to perform an Arc Flash risk assessment for electrical equipment and to update the study every five years.
Canadian Power Engineers is the newest member of the family and a wholly-owned division of Phovetus Inc. Above all, we are a driven, passionate team. Our value is our insight into the latest technology and approaches needed to deliver our client’s projects on time and within budget. Renewable Power Specialist.
EPCM and Construction Management are admittedly integral parts of our company services.
Dispute resolution requires over-lapping skills.
Premise.
Clients engage EPC contractors or other service providers in order to deliver services within a specific time frame, scope of work, location, and cost. For instance, we provide EPCM and Construction Management as well as other services during the entire project life cycle:
Phoventus provides advice to clients needing assistance in resolving disputes surrounding renewable power projects. Thus, our specific area of practice includes services such as complex engineering, problem diagnosis, forensic review, and independent engineering opinions.
Our target clients are Law Firms, Developers, Government Agencies, Procurement Departments of large asset owners (IPPs).
In fact, we are different because: we can demonstrate experience, references, and very specific industry knowledge. Namely, our experience is a differentiator, and so are the relationships we have with various law firms.
Our areas of practice are electrical engineering, management consulting, Solar power, Wind Power, Renewable Power.
Also, the management, supervision, and closeout of EPC construction contracts are fundamental to the success of our clients. In addition, we are uniquely qualified to assist our clients in closing gaps between themselves and their construction partners.
Phoventus is a global advisory and professional engineering and management consultant to the grid and storage power market. Moreover, we offer value-added strategic management, engineering, and environmental consulting. We also provide advisory services to power developers and utilities. Apart from that, we provide services through all stages of a project’s lifecycle starting with early-stage, technical and financial feasibility assessments. Up through to grid asset risk management and safeguarding the interests of power producers/operators and long-term ownership stakeholders. Indeed, Phoventus is an incorporated Canadian company with a head office near Toronto.
So far, the Phoventus management team has advised on more than 500 energy projects globally, including, our Hybrid Power division. These specifical target corporations and industrial electricity users, such as mines and Island power grids seeking to modernize their grid infrastructure and carbon footprint. Thus, we provide a range of dedicated services such as Techno-economic energy storage options. We offer Procurement support of electrical infrastructure including owners engineering and installation inspection. Integration of renewables with energy storage as well as generators for micro-grid or remote sites is also our specialized electrical engineering services.
The Phoventus team includes the staff that is recognized and experienced consultants to banks, financial institutions, and developers. They are preparing and evaluating the “bankability” of renewable energy projects. In fact, we work for diverse clients in diverse locations in North America and Asia.
Phoventus is a recognized global authority on the bankability of solar modules. It was nominated by Bloomberg New Energy as one of 16 firms voting for the bankability of Solar Modules in the 2021 Bloomberg PV Module Manufacturing survey. This survey is the gold standard in module bankability.
Canadian Power Engineers is the newest member of the family and a wholly-owned division of Phovetus Inc. Above all, we are a driven, passionate team. Our value is our insight into the latest technology and approaches needed to deliver our client’s projects on time and within budget. Renewable Power Specialist.
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Here is everything you need to know about Optimal Decentralized Microgrid Coordination via the Schur’s Complement and S-Procedure.
The evolving landscape of the electricity sector along with increasing environmental concerns necessitate modern power grids to be more efficient, sustainable, and adaptive. Microgrids typically consist of distributed energy sources that have great potential for enabling energy independence, sustainability, and flexibility.
However, practical difficulties that deter the widespread deployment of microgrids include the unpredictability of local generation sources (e.g., renewables). They also include the lack of inertia that is naturally present in systems containing bulk synchronous plants.
In this paper, we propose a near real-time microgrid coordination algorithm. In fact, it allows actuating components to adapt to changing system conditions.
We account for the electrical dependencies and limits in microgrid systems by constructing voltage/current balance relations in the dq0 frame and applying strategic decompositions. The aim is to invoke Schur’s complement and S-procedure that allow for a zero duality gap.
We highlight the convergence, feasibility, and scalability features of the proposed decentralized algorithm. In particular, we achieve that via theoretical and comparative practical simulation studies.
MICROGRIDS typically consist of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaics and wind turbines. Both generate electricity by tapping onto locally available natural resources which are then delivered at low losses to power consumers residing at close physical proximity. These systems operate in either grid-connected or stand-alone modes.
As the microgrid operating in stand-alone mode lacks the inertia introduced by the main grid, highly fluctuating
power demand/supply will lead to inefficiencies and instabilities. Overcoming them would be possible by applying appropriate optimal steady-state and transient control mechanisms.
In this paper, we focus specifically on steady-state coordination over near real-time horizons (e.g., seconds). Our aim is to closely account for rapidly changing conditions in the microgrid. This remains an open research challenge mainly due to the non-convexities present in power flow relations which must be accurately incorporated for feasible microgrid operations.
Thus, our main contribution in this paper is the proposal of a decentralized DER coordination method that accounts for physical power balance relations with convergence guarantees.
To view the entire Optimal Decentralized Microgrid Coordination PDF, please click here.
Phoventus celebrates 10 years and takes pride in its Bankability Credentials!
The concept of bankability is critically important in the Renewable Power business due to the rapid growth of the PV and Wind Power market. Furthermore, it is significant due to the arrival of numerous new players all through the value chain.
Above all, we provide engineering and procurement services to cover all aspects of your renewable energy, EV, or Remote Power project. In fact, our services are comprehensive, consisting of system engineering, design studies as well as project management.
In particular, our firm is not a construction company and we don’t do installations ourselves. Indeed, we do coordinate and provide engineering design as well as construction management for your chosen contractor. Unfortunately, we do not provide service to the single residence market at this time.
Above all, we are a driven, passionate team. Hence, our value is our insight into the latest technology and approaches needed to deliver our client’s projects on time and within budget. Indeed, Renewable Power Specialist.
“All of us at Entropy would like to express our appreciation for the work of the team performed as Independent Engineer for the project finance of Entropy’s 5MW Cayman Solar Project by CIBC First Caribbean
International Bank. The project was the first utility scale solar project developed in Cayman Islands, which posed a unique set of challenges. A number of unusual design and engineering principals needed to be incorporated to address hurricane force wind loading, difficult soil and rock conditions, and the lack of a substantial service and support infrastructure to accommodate the service and maintenance needs of the plant. The team worked with us to fully understand and address potential risks, delivering their work professionally, on time, and on budget.”
David March, Managing Partner, Entropy Investment Management
“The team at Phoventus bring dedication, critical insights and rare in-depth industry experience to our projects. They are knowledgeable, practical and dedicated to delivering high-quality outcomes. We enjoy working with Phoventus and welcome the opportunity to recommend them to others.”
Lee Anderson , CBRE Caledon Capital Management
”Rob and his team are among the best professional engineers that we have worked with in solar space. They provide timely advice and critical insight into design, procurement and development problems that reduce costs, reduce risk and move projects forward.”
Thomas J. Timmins, Gowling WLG
To view our Bankability Credentials PDF, please click here.
WiRE Mississauga Networking Meet-Up event took place on Wednesday, February 21st, 2018. The gathering was at the Alectra Inc. head office in Mississauga. Kathryn Klement. Also, the Director of PV Power Systems attended the WiRE event on behalf of the Phoventus team. In addition, the event was for women only and the featured speaker was Neetika Sathe, Alectra’s Director of Advanced Planning. She talked about how the opportunities for power and utility companies might change over time.
Neetika added that there is an emerging market in energy demand and in smart metering technology. The importance of mitigating the industry is to build investor, regulator, and public confidence. Of course, this would be beneficial to gain scale for major investments. Moreover, it was highlighted that the utility of the future will be a digital system and we can simply begin to adapt to the changes by improving our workplace efficiency and expand the customer base for a powerful productivity-boosting capability.
During the networking session, members identified that the integration of distributed energy resources is likely to become of the highest growth areas within the sector in the next five years and the electric vehicle market is growing exponentially as a key opportunity over the longer term.
The next Toronto Networking Meet-Up will take place at Gowling WLG, 1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Suite 1600, Toronto on March 21st and the key speaker will be Karen Clarke-Whistler, Chief Environmental Officer at the TD Bank Group.
CLIMATE-SMART MINING FACILITY LAUNCHING CONFERENCE
Minerals for Climate Action
Preston Auditorium; Wednesday, 1 May 2019; 09:00 AM – 05:30 PM
A panel discussion took place at the launching conference “Minerals for Climate Action,” hosted and organized by the World Bank’s Energy & Extractives Global Practice in Washington, DC.
The Climate-Smart Mining Facility is the first-ever Facility dedicated to making mining climate-smart and sustainable, bringing together governments, industry, financial institutions as well as private investors.
The event gathered an audience of CEOs, NGOs, government, academia as well as private and public-sector representatives. In addition, a wide range of industries and governments stakeholders were represented, such as automotive, battery manufacturers, financial institutions, government donors, energy companies, the mining industry, and World Bank clients.
In fact, the session was an interactive debate and discussion between leading experts on what climate-smart mining should look like and how a range of actors can make mining as sustainable as possible.
Objectives of the session included:
• Discussing how to leverage innovation in order to reduce the carbon and material footprints of increased extractive and processing activity to supply the clean energy transition
• Exploring the role of innovation to secure supply for strategic minerals as well as create new market opportunities for mineral-rich developing countries.
Innovation may refer to:
o Developing new technology in the mining sector in order to reduce environmental impacts;
o New partnerships between upstream and downstream companies in order to mobilize private capital for development;
• Determining how the public and private sectors can work together to drive innovation throughout the mineral supply
Rob Lydan is the CEO of Phoventus, a global consulting and engineering firm with offices in Toronto and New York. In addition, During his career, Rob spent more than 25 years building and leading diverse engineering teams. Rob is the recipient of multiple awards, patents, and nominations for recognized innovation and engineering design. Also, Rob is a graduate of mechanical engineering technology from George Brown. Rob is a published author of a variety of thought leadership articles.
Read or download the full PDF.
For infrastructure investments such as pension and insurance funds, stability and predictability of returns on investment are vital. As a strong infrastructure asset class, renewable energy gives that and more. When you know what to look for, it is relatively low-risk and can provide higher levels of predictable, long-term, inflation-linked cash flows and uncorrelated returns than more traditional sectors. These sectors have been subject to significant price volatility in recent years. Moreover, opportunities for investment in the renewables field are growing rapidly. The International Energy Agency forecasts that renewables will become the world’s main source of electricity, passing coal in the mid-2020s.
Thanks to the Paris Climate Agreement – with an estimated $1 trillion of investment required to achieve global decarbonization and energy goals – renewable energy infrastructure offers a considerable global opportunity to generate significant returns for pension fund investors. Benefits range from fund diversification to positive risk-adjusted returns and higher-yielding long-duration inflation-linked income streams. (Source: GFI report, Nov 2017: The Renewable energy infrastructure investment opportunity for UK pension funds.)
As the report notes, there are a number of fundamental drivers for institutional investors when it comes to their investment portfolio requirements:
The GFI’s findings “all suggest that renewables infrastructure is a valuable new asset class for long-term buy and hold investors” such as pension funds and life insurance companies. Canadian and Australian pension fund investors are already significant players in the market in comparison to their counterparts in other countries. And, yet, there remains significant scope to exploit the growing number of opportunities globally.
“It is clear that the growing market for renewable infrastructure is paving the way both for potentially substantial returns for institutional investors; and for a swifter, more affordable transition to a low-carbon economy,” the report says.
6. Electricity generated by large-scale renewable sources is now competitive with or cheaper than new fossil fuel power in many markets.
7. Onshore wind and solar PV account for a majority of global power sector investment and demand is increasing.
8. There is increased competition in the supply chain, which has helped to drive down technology costs.
9. Output from technologies such as wind and solar can be variable by the very nature of their energy source. But, modern methods of energy storage and demand-side management and the nature of long-term subsidy and additional market incentives means renewables are free of sudden price fluctuations. These had an impact on fossil fuel markets in recent years, enabling them to provide predictable long-term returns.
10. New markets with strong growth potential are opening up and new technologies are emerging for good investment opportunities. For example, India is a market on many investors’ radar because of “an exceptionally ambitious target to reach 175 GW of renewables by 2022” and strong support policies, notes the GFI report. Latin America and Africa also present significant opportunities, although as emerging markets risks can be greater than in more established markets in Europe and North America.
Depending on risk appetite, there are various routes you can take to secure the best returns from the renewable energy sector. And, to take full advantage of the opportunities, as outlined above. You simply have to know what to look for and what to avoid. Infrastructure assets can include debt and equity, listed and unlisted assets. Meantime, investments can either be direct or indirect. For example, through dedicated infrastructure funds managed by professional managers. Again, it depends on things like risk appetite and liquidity needs. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ model for investment structure.
In addition, there are a number of different entry points within the project life cycle to consider. Each with its own level of risk and potential returns.
Should you opt for the development stage of the cycle? This is before construction even starts. Generally, it involves sourcing potential project sites, gaining planning permission, grid connections, permits, and available subsidies. Here, the investor’s costs are minimal but risks are relatively high. In fact, the risks revolve around failure to achieve any of the development stage objectives.
The construction stage of a project – preparation of construction plans, securing finance, and then completing the project build – could be a potentially better option and there are different entry points available. For renewables, it is this stage that typically accounts for the most significant proportion of total project cost. The associated risks are many and include delays and cost overruns. But, there is a possibility to minimize such risks. Or, one can avoid the institutional investor altogether. As GFI points out, to avoid these construction stage risks, investing at the completion stage is an option. In this way, another party can absorb the overrun, delay, and performance risks.
The other main entry points in a project’s life cycle. Once it becomes classified as an operating asset, which is when it has been operating for at least 12 months after the construction cycle is complete. Here, you could enter the initial operational phase when the price support system (PPA, subsidy) is still in place. Or, you can enter once that phase is over. In the first on these risks are minimal confined to operation and management of the assets. In the latter phase, risk rises as projects sell the electricity they generate on the wholesale market at the market or merchant price. However, capital expenditure at this latter stage usually gets fully paid off by this point. Overall, the operational asset phase is most likely the lowest-risk phase in a project’s life cycle for institutional investors.
Making the right choice to meet your long-term strategic goals really depends on a number of factors. Moreover, it requires the right expertise and thorough due diligence.
Not all projects are equal. Neither are the different markets or players in the field.
An understanding of the different markets and technologies, the opportunities, and what/where/who to avoid, along with the point on entry, is critical. With more than 50 years of combined experience in this sector, this is where Phoventus excel. And, where we can help.
Phoventus Inc. now offers professional engineering dispute resolution services. Thus, a full range of consultancy, facilitation, conflict management, and conciliation services are available to assist clients to resolve disputes and systemic issues.
The Dispute Resolution team at Phoventus has many years of experience and extensive knowledge of delivering effective communication and interest-based negotiations to help businesses achieve true solutions. Indeed, we have experts managing sensitive and complex cases, including dispute resolution services. Also, we are uniquely qualified to assist our clients in closing gaps between themselves and their business partners surrounding renewable power projects to avoid costly mistakes and to minimize their workforce costs.
Moreover, we know that disputes may jeopardize the timely completion of contracts and the quality of deliverables. In some cases, stakeholder disputes break down agreements and create larger problems. It is in both parties’ best interests to have disputes resolved quickly and efficiently. Also, our strategic and straightforward approach comes from our dedicated team of specialists with extensive energy industry knowledge and socio-economic technical background. We have a team with over 10 years of commercial and practical problem-solving skills advising various energy, utilities, and other major projects such as large engineering schemes and infrastructure projects.
Finally, we provide services below to individuals and businesses:
Canadian Power Engineers is the newest member of the family and a wholly-owned division of Phovetus Inc.