A Correct Asset Life Cycle Data Model Is Critical for Clean Energy ESG and ROI

The land grab for clean energy is in full swing across the U.S. Clean energy is a priority for every U.S. utility. The supply and pace of clean energy assets are severely constrained while the demand will be unlimited for the foreseeable future. This situation will create winners and losers in the clean energy market. What will differentiate the winners from the losers?

First, it’s most important to be efficient and effective in managing razor-thin margins on assets that are probably overpriced in the early years of their operation. Utilities that can efficiently onboard constructed and/or purchased assets, effectively maintain such assets, and understand/predict their performance will be the ultimate winners. Across the clean energy market, we see many of the same mistakes being made in comparison to older generation assets—namely nuclear, fossil, and gas. The cost of legacy generation assets was always more than planned; those assets seldom performed as predicted. Many factors contributed to the challenges of legacy generation asset performance, but several root causes stemmed from mistakes related to missing as-design and as-built information about the asset—and then needing to pay to recreate that data. Also, few invested in analyzing what’s truly critical about the asset. As a result, businesses couldn’t create accurate risk-based asset predictive models across a fleet of assets.

We’re modeling the entire clean energy asset life cycle, defining data-centric end-to-end processes for each phase of clean energy asset life cycle. We’re using core S4 ERP that’s integrated with key products such as SAP APM, AIN, FSM, and Mobile to predict clean energy asset reliability and performance. These products also assist in modeling TCO in new ways, as well as in developing risk-informed insights to balance ESG effects with energy sales revenue.

Key Takeaways

Understand the clean energy data model, technology, and processes across all phases of the life cycle. 

Speakers

• Jeffrey Briner, Partner, PwC
• Alejandro Reyes, Director Global Applications & PMO, AES Corporation