Feasibility Studies and Project Steps
Projects go through various steps before they are complete. The idea of buying a
new car is long removed from actually driving the vehicle off the dealer’s lot.
Research in Consumer Reports, car shopping, price comparison, insurance, warranty,
loan, and price negotiation are just a few of the steps. And most importantly, you
may stop the journey at any step based on what you learned or what you have in your
bank account. Like buying a car, large engineering projects go through similar steps
and feasibility studies are performed to determine its practicability and achievability.
Green Energy Engineering, Inc. has conducted hundreds of feasibility
studies which have included some of the stages shown below.
- Idea
- Options
- Feasibility studies
- Conceptual studies
- Definition phase
- Engineering
- Design
- Procurement
- Construction
- Startup
- Operator/maintenance training
- Post startup punch list
Each of these steps are separately funded which allows the owner to pull the plug
at any time. More importantly, each of these steps cost more money then the previous
step, so it makes sense to reevaluate your project rate of return before you proceed
to the next step.
We have been involved in some projects in which the plug has been pulled after procurement.
All the wooden poles for a 115 kV line were left in the yard, because another utility
saw a chance to partner in the rights of way and upgrade the project to a 500 kV
line. It just goes to show that budgeting and funding each stage is the prudent
thing to do, because maybe something better can be done, or maybe market conditions
change and no new homes should be built in the sub-division.
