Scaling to meet the Renewables energy challenge

The UK renewable energy sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by a substantial government investment of £960 million over the next five years.

This investment aims to accelerate the growth of green industries, support economic growth and enhance UK exports, while modernising infrastructure to deliver clean power more efficiently to households and businesses.

This aligns with the UK’s ambitions to reduce emissions and tackle climate change. However, this rapid expansion brings about significant scaling challenges for the renewable energy sector particularly in process documentation, training, compliance with global regulatory requirements and adoption of best practices and lessons learned.

Scaling Challenges

Limited Number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): The renewable energy sector’s rapid growth has led to a reliance on a limited number of key personnel and SMEs. These individuals are essential for their deep knowledge and expertise but are becoming bottlenecks due to the sector’s expanding needs.
Influx of Entry-Level Resources: Renewables has become a preferred sector for graduates, leading to a surge of entry-level professionals. While this influx is beneficial for growth, it also presents a challenge in effectively integrating these new resources into complex projects without a solid foundation of standardised processes, procedures and training.
Lack of Documented Processes and Procedures: The sector is currently facing issues with processes and best practices not being adequately captured or standardised (referred to as the lack of a “playbook”). This lack hampers the industry’s ability to scale efficiently and meet the increasing demand for renewable energy projects – “just isn’t time to write it down due to the scale of the portfolio and targets”.
Constant Coaching and Under-Delegation: SMEs are swamped with constant coaching responsibilities and under-delegation, as they are required to impart their knowledge to new entrants continuously. This situation is unsustainable and detracts from their capacity to focus on higher-level strategic initiatives, governance oversight and assurance.
Navigating Geo-Standards and Regulations: The renewable energy sector operates globally, meaning projects must adhere to a variety of geographic standards, regulations and grid operator requirements. This complexity adds another layer of challenge in scaling operations, as it requires a nuanced understanding and adaptability to ensure compliance across different jurisdictions – which is placing demands on the traditional static playbook artefacts (PowerPoint, SharePoint PFD solutions).

The challenges in scaling not only affect the industry’s capacity to deliver on renewable projects but also have broader social and economic implications. The availability and accessibility of energy are crucial and without streamlined processes and adequate training for resources, the sector risks being unable to meet demand, leading to potential energy shortages or energy constraints.

An additional dimension to this scenario is the anticipated interest from consulting organisations, which, recognising the sector’s growth potential, may increasingly focus on energy as a key area for expansion given the recent shift from infrastructure to energy investment by UK government. This trend could exacerbate the existing challenges by enticing experienced resources away from delivery into advisory, further straining the industry’s capacity to scale effectively.

Synopsis

The UK’s renewable energy sector’s rapid growth is hampered by critical scaling challenges, including a scarcity of SMEs, an influx of entry-level talent without adequate training and a lack of standardised processes and documentation. Without addressing these issues, the sector is ill-equipped to scale effectively, risking project delays and inefficiencies in meeting the soaring demand for renewable energy.

Failure to tackle these scaling challenges poses significant socio-economic risks, potentially leading to energy shortages and undermining the UK’s ambitions for a sustainable and energy-secure future.

Our Solution

In a collaborative partnership, SSE Renewables and Method Grid successfully codified a comprehensive digital playbook within just six weeks. This playbook is now instrumental in supporting and assuring key renewable energy projects, directly addressing the sector’s challenges of knowledge transfer, process standardisation and regulatory compliance.

Through this partnership, SSE Renewables has significantly enhanced its project delivery and operational efficiency, showcasing a proactive and innovative approach to overcoming the rapid growth and complexity in the renewable energy sector.

Feedback From SSE Renewables | Stephen Rose – Head of Completions and Commissioning

When we initially set out to create a playbook for SSE Renewables, our aim was to move beyond the conventional static PDFs and PowerPoint presentations that, from past experience, often ended up gathering dust on a shelf. We sought something dynamic, a tool not just for guidance but one that could actively track compliance as our teams engaged with it, ensuring real, measurable impact on our project delivery. Admittedly, I had reservations about the timeframe; personally, I braced for a six-month endeavor. However, I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the capabilities of the Method Grid platform, particularly its AI features, which have enabled us to construct our first comprehensive end-to-end playbook in just six weeks.

This playbook is now set for pilot testing on live projects, perfectly aligned with our Capital Project governance and lifecycle processes. The outcome has been beyond satisfactory, directly addressing our scaling challenges and allowing us to pivot our focus towards delivery and continuous improvement in our ways of working. The partnership with Method Grid has not only exceeded my expectations but has also been a pivotal step forward for SSE Renewables in enhancing operational efficiency and project assurance in an innovative and proactive manner.

Feedback from Method Grid | Pip Morpeth – Head of Professional Services

We are truly delighted with the feedback from SSE Renewables on our collaborative effort to develop a digital playbook. It’s crucial to acknowledge the significance of this digital shift — integrating knowledge, process, delivery and training into a single, dynamic playbook that assists teams in navigating the complexities of capital project delivery environments.

For Method Grid, venturing into the renewable energy sector marks an exciting expansion of our expertise and experience, which has been honed in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector.

We are thrilled to take an active role in supporting the renewable energy sector, leveraging our platform to facilitate a more efficient, compliant and streamlined project delivery process. This project with SSE Renewables not only underscores the versatility and impact of our platform but also reaffirms our commitment to driving innovation and excellence in project management and delivery across various industries.

If you would like to learn more, you can download our case study with SSE Renewables.