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Creating a Renewable Energy Project Delivery Playbook for SSE Renewables
Client Background
SSE Renewables, a subsidiary of the SSE Group, is a leading developer and operator of renewable energy in the UK and Ireland. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Perth, Scotland, the company’s focus is on onshore and offshore wind farms and hydroelectric generation.
Client Challenge
The renewable energy sector is undergoing rapid growth and increased demand, presenting a unique challenge in documenting operational methods and best practices. This documentation is crucial for developing expertise in renewable capital project delivery, particularly given the diverse regulatory requirements and standards across the globe.
Recognising the industry-wide scaling challenges in renewables—including the need for clear processes, compliance, and support for the influx of entry-level professionals—highlights the significant demand on a limited number of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), resulting in notable scaling pains for the renewables division and sector.
SSE Renewables aimed to explore solution options that diverged from static content solutions, acknowledging the necessity to dynamically tailor processes to accommodate varying regional regulations and requirements.
Solution and Approach
In a collaborative partnership, SSE Renewables and Method Grid successfully codified a comprehensive digital playbook in just six weeks. This playbook has become 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 improved its project delivery and operational efficiency, demonstrating a proactive and innovative approach to managing the rapid growth and complexity in the renewable energy sector.
To meet the urgent requirements of SSE Renewables, our team rapidly developed a dynamic playbook. This playbook, aligned with SSE’s Large Capital Project governance framework, focuses on codifying the commissioning and completion processes, fulfilling the need to demonstrate value within weeks. The playbook outlines both internal and external deliverables and controls required to support the successful commissioning and completions processes of UK wind farms in accordance with National Grid and regulatory requirements.
Outcome and Benefits
The introduction of the playbook and platform at SSE Renewables led to significant improvements in compliance, process oversight, and internal task tracking. The platform’s internal demonstration across the Offshore business resulted in wider adoption and interest from teams involved in capital project delivery.
The playbook effectively aligns with SSE’s Capital Project delivery framework used throughout SSE, enabling efficient knowledge task and governance control. Financial benefits included increased operational efficiency and more streamlined project delivery – focused on reducing risk and cost of poor quality.
Team
The key contributors to this project were Luke Noblet, a senior consultant at Method Grid and Pip Morpeth, our Head of Professional Services at Method Grid, both of whose expertise was vital in developing and implementing this rapid and effective solution.
Key Takeaways
This case study exemplifies our ability to develop and deploy customised solutions rapidly in response to complex challenges in the renewable energy sector. Our partnership with SSE Renewables highlights the effectiveness of tailored tools in enhancing project delivery, compliance, and knowledge management, contributing significantly to addressing both industry-wide and organisation-specific challenges in renewable energy project delivery.
Client testimonials: 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.
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