Power

Best ratio between cost and quality

Over the past years Cost Engineering has been involved in many projects in one of the most crucial industries for our society. After all, this is the industry of which price changes always make the news. For that reason it is a necessity to obtain the best ratio between cost and quality.

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Taking calculated cost and as-built cost into account

In the past, Cost Engineering has worked on projects for combined cycle power plants. The time that elapses between accepting a bid and the final construction is one of the major issues we have found in these projects. It is quite common to find a gap of two years between these two stages. However, if this gap is not taken into account when preparing the estimates, there can be a significant difference between the calculated cost and the as-built cost. Having knowledge like this makes Cost Engineering the ideal partner when it comes to estimating and managing costs of your project in the energy industry.

Power plants from 400 million to over a billion Euros

Another factor which greatly influences this difference is the fact that accepting the bid does not cover all the cost involved in obtaining a working combined cycle power plant. Depending on the project this can be as little as 75% of the total cost involved in the plant.

The best way to face this problem is to carefully draw up functional specifications for all the additional tasks that are needed during the project and then including them in the estimates. Cost Engineering has done this for power plants ranging from 400 million Euros to plants worth well over a billion Euros.

Experience based on a series of projects

Cost Engineering has been active on the side of both buyer as well as EPC contractor. Through series of projects it has become clear that the biggest gains are in the difference between the first estimates and the execution stage. Careful analysis of current and previous projects and the market knowledge of Cost Engineering combine to deliver an advantage to your project organization.

Underground gas storage

Cost Engineering is currently working on a project for underground storage of natural gas. As more and more energy companies are switching to gas for their power plants for environmental reasons, there is a bigger need for gas storage to cover the peaks of gas use in winter.

Underground gas storage is a natural choice for energy companies worldwide as it limits risks and gives a potential capacity of millions of m³. Cost Engineering has been involved with these kinds of projects from the feed phase up to and including doing cost control during execution.

ITER

Quite a special project in the energy sector is nuclear fusion project ITER. It is one of the most complex scientific and engineering projects in the world today. The complexity of the ITER design has already led to a whole range of new and better performing technologies. However, further science and technology are needed to bridge the gap to commercialization of fusion energy.

An important step in bridging this gap is an accurate estimate of the costs of the project. But how do you estimate an unprecedented and complex project like ITER? Material is shipped in from all over the world, labor is conducted in different countries and because of the long-term orientation we have to take into account escalation and contingencies.

Because of Cost Engineering’s years of experience in estimating capital costs in a broad range of industries, ITER asked Cost Engineering to perform the cost estimate of this unique project.