"A stitch in time saves nine" illustrates why complete supervision by an engineer makes all the sense in the world for solar projects. When millions of dollars are involved it's more than just a good idea, it's necessary. Here's the billion dollar question: what kind of engineering support does your project actually require? You'll want to consider independent engineering vs. owners engineering.
For solar development activity, the market is now dealing with an important distinction between Independent Engineers (IE) and Owner's Engineers (OE), which professionals will sometimes confuse for similar roles. The industry will interchange these titles as they are very different types of project oversight.
The Important Difference: Independent Engineering vs. Owner's Engineering
A lot of companies in the solar development space need their own support for developing solar projects because they don't have built-in engineering knowledge or they need independent engineering services to assess projects. Without dedicated engineering resources, companies must outsource these resources but the decision between using an IE or OE should also depend not on chance, but on knowing their essential responsibilities.
Independent Engineering (IE)
Our solar industry keeps Independent Engineers engaged to be the technical reviewers. They act as impartial assessments to assure the technical compliance and financial feasibility of solar projects without being inherently biased. Our solar industry engages Independent Engineers to perform as "lender's engineers" (IE's) to assess projects for funding approval, which creates a relationship from IE approval to project funding.
The due diligence for the IE is appropriately focused on risk management and value enhancement. Their complete review assures a project can avoid financial default through compliance with technical specification and recognizing areas for improved performance and reliability. The independent engineer reviews all sorts of materials including construction drawings, PVsyst energy production reports, installation processes, equipment certifications and code compliance requirements to create important findings that protects investments and project performance through rigorous technical assessment. Sign-off from the IE will be requirement for each funding agreements in order for funds to disbursed. The IE assessment of bankability also enhances shareholder value and profit margins on the project throughout the project duration when both the financier and project sponsor transition into approved transaction from bank. As a third-party authority this validation is also fundamental to demonstrating project feasibility and financial stability through independent engineering review.
The IE function is unique to the above structure. The IE firm can engage multiple parties with discipline specific expertise to provide objective review of a project. Independent, the can provide an unaligned review that is agreeable to all parties with completely free analyzation but minimum compliance prescriptions with recommendations to improve performance, reliability and ROI.
Owner's Engineer (OE) Services
An Owner's Engineer (OE) has varying functionality. An OE is meant solely to advocate for the owner's exclusive interests throughout the project. OEs are engagement members with asset owners pre-, during, and post-technology asset deployment to assist them with their informed technical decisions, where the work is focused on the owner's exclusive interests and preferences.
When partnering with an OE, you are forming a special relationship with a partner that looks to recap you on the performance of the system from the owner's viewpoint, develop preventative solutions to operational problems you may face, and enact design work according to your ideas and wishes. OEs can work with you through various design and construction problems according to your interests, providing consulting services and management oversight throughout projects.
Independent Engineers (IEs) and Owner's Engineers (OEs) primarily differ in their core approach: IEs provide impartial and independent evaluations for the benefit of all parties involved, while OEs are dedicated to representing the interests of the owner through engineering services. Both play an important, albeit different, role in the project development.
When to Engage an Independent Engineer versus an Owner's Engineer
Independent Engineers are a requirement when technical and financial due diligence, objectivity, and independence and third-party verification are at valuation and risk and acceptable validation. Independent Engineers provide essential validation for sponsors' finance applications, financial institutions and investors for risk assessments and certifications. Independent Engineers validate a projects annualized performance models calculating ROI and LCOE, the metrics on which investments decisions are made in the solar industry.
Independent Engineer evaluations provide holistic, objective evaluations to ensure projects are financially attractive, technically sound and optimized for performance. When parties involved in the project need assurance that the project meets or exceeds industry standards, an Independent Engineer should provide the technical review and reporting through comprehensive assessment. An Independent Engineer's independent view typically provides optimization opportunities that other parties involved with too close to the project may not identify during the engineering review process.
Owner's Engineers as project Owner's Engineer, represent the project Owner who has appointed them, or the Owner's Engineer is representing the Owner's particular interests throughout the development. The typical beneficiaries are asset owners who would prefer to have an Owner's Engineer positioned as their dedicated engineer on cost controls and work priorities for construction management and project services.
An Owner's Engineer takes the perspective of the Owner, which can have beneficial aspects, in some cases, but it will not be the same independent, objective evaluations for all of the stakeholder parties involved in the project and engineering consulting needs.
Choosing the Right Engineering Partner
Independent Engineers and Owner's Engineers are different roles, though equally valued and supportive to your development project. The OE will represent the owner's interests, while the IE will provide independent insight and referrals who will provide that much needed objective, third party, E&M insight and referrals while providing value to project participants from independent reviews and refinements through engineering services.
A properly trained Independent Engineer will have subject matter and industry knowledge alongside independent assessments resulting in value generation in the project ecosystem. Most importantly, and maybe more importantly, is that their independent assessments enable them to recognize opportunities, risks, issues, problems, and concerns that apparently few (if any) of the stakeholders can see during field inspection and technical review, and they will diagnose e.g. detail-relationships, insights that then ultimately add project-value for as many participants as possible through independent engineering services.
Lifecycle value
The potential value of an Independent Engineer is at any phase of project lifecycle, from procurement through construction and fabrication.
In pre-stage development the IE provides objective diagnoses of the project approach generically and potential problems early perspective into challenges and focus, and therefore categorize how project definition (technical) and process without frazzling keeping a high-level about maximum-costs and budgets and extending timelines and budgets below max fraction of expectations through engineering management. Also, that technical success and financial stability are understandable contracts.
IEs verify pre-construction plans and technical documents objectively and taken with respect of the developer-property owners-financiers. IEs have objective diagnostics capacity in terms of schedule, costs, technical solution, site inspection and siting process; they also provide that information to relevant stakeholders, but more importantly to the developer as to constraints on understanding following this for accurate representation during the due diligence process.
During construction, the independent engineer has generically objective diagnoses of what pre-development and construction process to evaluate for areas instantly and possibly to be highly at-risk, and steer potential value-engineering intention from stakeholders who could indisputably (local and regional) for what the elements of costs are thinks of in....or...on...products!..., objective disaster evaluation clarifier any claim provides so general quality through field inspection and power system assessment.
During commissioning, the Independent Engineer's extensive independent verification assures the project fulfills all technical requirements and financial viability ahead of producing energy. Their objective analysis and documentation provide safeguards for all stakeholders confirming the project will perform as promised through comprehensive review.
Selection Considerations for Engineering Partner
When determining your Independent Engineering partner, it is important to look past the name of the company and marketing material and consider the incident expertise of the personnel identified to your project, past experience with like technologies, and history of providing thorough and objective analysis for projects and services. In the case of a solar project needing financing, selecting a qualified IE who has extensive knowledge in the industry will help guarantee you have a complete evaluation and bankability assessment for the success of your project through independent engineering consulting.
In most cases, the independence and objectivity of the IE represents significant value for engineering management. Their independent point of view guarantees their thorough and expert analysis of every component of the project is not biased by priorities of any one stakeholder during the technical assessment.
It is also critical to select an engineering partner whose tension is aligned with the success of the project as opposed to any particular stakeholder. IEs are configured to provide such independent value which serve the entire project ecosystem through engineering services and consulting.
In Conclusion…
Both Independent Engineers and Owner's Engineers bring beneficial services to the solar industry but their roles in delivery, and value streams vary significantly. Where OEs serve the distinct interest of the owner through engineering management, IEs provide the independent and objective analysis that will provide beneficial value to the entire stack of stakeholders through independent engineering review.
Independent Engineers provide the superior blend of technical depth of expertise, objective analysis, and value optimization for all solar projects, especially those requiring financing and multiple stakeholders. Their independent validation validates that the project is technically sound, financially viable, and has been maximized for performance and reliability through comprehensive due diligence and assessment.
If Developers seek both project approval and optimization, engaging Independent Engineers is advantageous, their objective analysis often highlights opportunities for improvement that may have otherwise overlooked during construction and field inspection. Bringing together independent validation ensures that projects not only meet the minimum baseline requirements, but they leverage maximum potential for performance, reliability, and financial returns through engineering consulting services.
Recognition of these distinctions can help individual solar stakeholders make educated assessments that ultimately will lead to more successful, profitable and sustainable projects as market competition becomes more acute. For those who stand to benefit from Independent Engineering services in the solar space, Exactus Energy brings the depth technical expertise and independent objective analysis to achieve success from concept to completion through comprehensive engineering review and project management.