Modern Energy Management (MEM), a specialist in delivering project lifecycle certainty to renewable energy developers, financiers and investors, is to carry out marine warranty surveying (MWS) services at Indonesia’s first utility-scale wind project, Sidrap Wind Farm, on behalf of GCube Underwriting Ltd (GCube).
Under the terms of the agreement, MEM will provide risk management services related to the offloading of wind turbine generator components for the 75MW wind farm.
As the pace of wind energy development in the emerging markets increases, there is an urgent need for supporting infrastructure to be properly integrated into the supply chain process. Although relatively lowly ranked by the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, Indonesia is undertaking significant investment in its ports and harbours in order to better facilitate the import of capital equipment.
Whilst this process takes place, however, wind energy developers require the confidence of a secure and comprehensive marine warranty service to ensure that large parts and components arrive at the project site undamaged and on time.
GCube selected MEM for this work ahead of local survey companies due to the firm’s clean energy specialism and expertise in the emerging Asian renewable energy markets. A key factor in the decision was ensuring the necessary depth of experience to comprehensively assess on-site and logistical risks, and prevent these leading to project delays.
The Sidrap wind farm, located on a series of ridges in Northern South Sulawesi, will consist of 30 Gamesa turbines and is scheduled for completion in January 2018.
The site’s remote and challenging landscape poses unique logistical challenges for the construction team, and will require components to be offloaded at a jetty specially-constructed for the project. MEM will oversee the components’ offloading, before they are transported to the project site itself.
“As Indonesia begins to develop in clean energy, investors need to have the confidence that their projects may be de-risked throughout the development timeline,” says Lars Lund, Director, MEM.
“Deploying wind energy in remote regions requires a full understanding of the project risk profile. Our own development experience informed the survey work we carried out at Sidrap, and will allow us to put procedures in place to best mitigate these risks.”
Charlie Richardson, Senior Underwriter at GCube, commented: “GCube’s specialised expertise in renewable energy underwriting, coupled with MEM’s local knowledge of the Indonesian market, has enabled us to develop a detailed understanding of the risks related to offloading turbine components and transporting them across the country.
“Partnering in this way will ensure comprehensive oversight of what was a technically and logistically challenging element in the Sidrap Wind Farm’s construction, helping the project to realise its full potential.”
