Renewable Energy Infrastructure and the Importance of Projects to Drive Success

There is a swift and palpable shift toward clean energy. Making this transition is essential to fighting climate change, and it is simultaneously creating millions of jobs. Project skills are increasingly in demand to drive the transformation to green energy, especially when it comes to establishing the much-needed infrastructure. Reskilling is now high on the agenda, to ensure that teams have the right capabilities to deliver successful renewable energy projects.

August 22, 2024. By News Bureau

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Renewable energy infrastructure

Project Management Institute

Green transition

Investments in Green Transition

Offshore Wind Projects

Green economy

Technology

Amit Goyal

Investments in Green Transition Driving Job Creation
According to the World Economic Forum's The Future of Jobs 2023 report, investments in green transition will drive the most significant net job creation in the future. India has set ambitious targets to increase renewable energy capacity, aiming for 500GW of installed capacity by 2030. With plans to ramp up green hydrogen, solar parks, and offshore wind projects, expanding project management capacity will be critical to achieving these targets and delivering the infrastructure needed for the green energy transition.

Project Management Institute’s Job Trends 2024 report highlights that investments in energy and infrastructure will ignite demand for project professionals to deliver priority, next-generation renewable energy infrastructure. The growing reliance on project-based approaches across industries is fueling demand for skilled project managers to usher in mission-critical renewable energy infrastructure.

A focus on building project talent capacity in the renewable energy sector is now a matter of urgency.
Project managers with green skills will stand out for their ability to manage complexity, work effectively with an array of stakeholders, problem-solve and anticipate risk, all while implementing sustainability practices into each initiative.

Green Skills Necessary for Project Success
India boasts the largest floating solar plant in the world – the Madhya Pradesh Floating Solar Array. This megaproject is a testament to the power of projects to deliver mission-critical renewable energy. Importantly, the remit of projects should also extend beyond the initiative’s launch; project managers play a vital role in the future of the project to maximize their impact, deliver value and manage risks.

When storm-damage impacted the Madhya Pradesh Floating Solar Array in April 2024, teams were immediately on the ground, assessing the situation and planning for power production to resume in a matter of days, with the objective of increasing capacity that same month. The Floating Solar Array isn’t the first renewable energy project to be damaged by extreme weather - nor will it be the last. As the frequency of extreme weather events increases due to climate change, more projects may be impacted. Identifying and managing risks is an important part of every project manager’s toolkit. Leveraging this skill will become critical to the success of renewable energy infrastructure projects, now and in the future.

Project managers with green skills can help the transition to renewables by integrating robust risk management practices to mitigate against extreme climate events and implement crisis communication plans to address unforeseen challenges rapidly and maintain stakeholder confidence - thereby ensuring the projects’ long-term success.

Timely and On-Budget Construction
According to McKinsey, a typical construction project is 80% over budget and takes 20% longer to complete than scheduled. Project Management Institute’s research found that 40% of construction projects exceeded their original timelines, and 73% exceeded their budget. The same study found that 72% of construction project managers always or often experience delays.

Low-price tendering and expansion of project scope contribute to delays and budget overruns. Other reasons are that the construction industry is playing catch-up when it comes to digitization. Poor communication practices and labour shortages also play a part.

Crucially, the industry must focus on upskilling employees, including project managers responsible for scoping, scheduling, and budgeting. Individuals and organizations looking to transform and future-proof the renewable energy industry can leverage project management and construction certifications - such as PMI’s Construction Professional (PMI-CP)^TM - to sharpen and develop relevant skills.

The industry is progressing on the technology front by adopting drones, robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics. However, the pace of adoption needs to accelerate. Project managers in this space must be skilled in disruptive new technologies like Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help the industry maximise the use of emerging tech.

New Technologies Disrupting Project Management
Project managers that learn to leverage cutting-edge technologies will stand out from their peers. Our latest research shows that high adopters of Generative AI in projects are more productive, creative, collaborative and effective. In the construction industry, AI and ML are now used across the design, preconstruction, construction, operations, and asset management phases. As this technology continues to reshape the engineering and construction landscape, project managers who can leverage the benefits of AI for planning, designing, building, running, and maintaining infrastructure will enhance project efficiency, safety, and quality. For instance, AI can monitor construction sites by evaluating data from diverse sources, including sensors, drones, cameras, and documents, to provide real-time insights and make decision-making recommendations.

As India accelerates the green transition, more project talent will be needed to deliver essential renewable energy infrastructure and adopt cutting-edge technologies to enhance project success. By doing so, they’ll help organizations smoothly transition to a greener future, dramatically improve project productivity and timelines, and play a more strategic role in delivering the green economy of the future.

- Amit Goyal, Regional Managing Director for South Asia, Project Management Institute