Renewable Energy Project Management Challenges and Solutions
Renewable energy projects offer many benefits: clean air, healthier communities, and job opportunities, to name a few. But for the people who live in project development areas, the benefits may not offset the disruptions that often occur alongside large-scale energy projects. That’s why community stakeholders should always be included in any renewal energy project management plan.
This guide explains the challenges of renewable energy projects, how to involve stakeholders, and tools you can use for project management in renewable energy.
Challenges of Renewable Energy Project Management
Aside from navigating complex regulations, one of the biggest challenges in managing renewable energy projects is the length of project timelines. For example, from initial concept to energy production, Australian wind farm projects take about 53 months. That’s a long time for project managers to track and manage stakeholder engagement.
Analysis of AU onshore wind farm production times (Source)
To ensure renewable energy projects have the best outcomes, project managers need to understand how and when to involve stakeholders based on the project lifecycle.
Project Lifecycle Phases in Renewable Energy Projects
Renewable energy project lifecycles may consist of many incremental steps and phases. For the purposes of stakeholder engagement, the three main phases are pre-construction, construction, and post-construction.
Pre-Construction Phase
Initial project planning includes conducting feasibility studies and environmental assessments, obtaining permits and approvals, securing landowner agreements, and planning construction logistics. This phase is usually the longest, because of the breadth of stakeholder involvement.
During initial planning, project managers need to track engagement for stakeholder groups, such as:
- Community members
- Indigenous populations
- Business owners
- Landowners
- Investors
- Developers
- Contractors
- Regulators
- Public health officials
- Environmental agencies
- NGOs, community groups
- Industry bodies
- Scientists
- Journalists
Some stakeholders, like contractors, may have a limited role in projects and won’t require ongoing engagement monitoring. However, project managers should maintain engagement and sentiment tracking with all stakeholders throughout this critical phase of the project in particular. It’s likely that there are multiple project developers or projects planned in the renewable energy zone, and the potential for confusion and consultation fatigue is enormous. Particular care must be taken to ensure clear lines of communication to ensure that stakeholders have access to clear and accurate information and you reduce the impact on communities.
Construction Phase
Even when you’re able to get community buy-in during the pre-construction phase, the realities of ongoing construction can create negative experiences for people and communities. For example, construction noise, heavy machinery traffic, and street closures can lead to grievances, so proactive and ongoing communication is essential for maintaining good ties with communities.
Post-Construction Phase
When renewable systems come online and begin delivering benefits, that might seem like the end of the project. Project managers should instead think of this phase as a new chapter in managing engagement and continue communicating with stakeholders and soliciting feedback. Agreements with landowners and investments in community projects will continue throughout the operation of the project, and stakeholder engagement will continue to be an important part of a successful project.
At the end of the project life, a new phase of stakeholder engagement will be required as part of the decommissioning work.
Digital Tools for Managing Renewable Energy Projects
Here are some digital tools and technologies to consider for managing projects in the renewable energy sector:
Project Management Software
Project management software standardises processes and improves communication across teams. Useful features include Gantt charts, resource forecasting, and APIs for integrating business technology in a single platform.
Geographic Mapping Tools
You need to know where your stakeholders are in relation to your project site, and with geographic mapping technology, you can see all stakeholders on an interactive map.
Simply Stakeholders lets you map stakeholders, integrate maps with GIS systems, add map layers, and create custom filters for sorting and organising stakeholders. Viewing issues and the sentiment of stakeholders on a map, overlaid with the location of assets or land agreements, can be a powerful way of viewing and understanding your data.
Data Analytics and Reporting Tools
Project managers need to track and analyse data and distill data into simple, easy-to-digest reports. Simply Stakeholders includes reporting templates, custom reports, and AI automation that simplifies reporting and helps decision-makers see the status of projects.
Simply Stakeholders: The Solution for Large-Scale Projects
Whether it’s a wind farm, solar project, or hydropower plant, renewable energy projects require a high level of organisation, stakeholder engagement, and analysis. A simple CRM doesn’t include the features project managers need to manage internal and external stakeholder relationships from project conception through energy production. That’s when Simply Stakeholders can help.
See how Simply Stakeholders brings clarity to projects, simplifies data analysis, and helps project managers automatically allocate resources and track stakeholder sentiment. Request your personalised demo today!
