GL Garrad Hassan’s new power market analysis services utilize state of the art simulation software to evaluate the short and long-term risks to renewable development projects associated with external power market influences. These include assessing the impacts of energy curtailment, policy changes, and infrastructure development and quantifying the financial ramifications that they have for a specific site or project. The new services support investors and developers of renewable energy projects in North America at all stages of the project lifecycle. The power market analysis services complement GL Garrad Hassan’s existing independent engineering portfolio, which has helped to deliver 45 percent of all U.S. and 39 percent of all Canadian wind farms.
As wind power has matured and the volume of projects connected to the grid has risen, there are an increasing number of geographical areas where projects experience curtailment issues. Accounting for the risk related to reduced opportunity for energy delivery, and the corresponding revenue loss, is now an essential factor in determining the value of a proposed site for project development, and it forms a key element of any technical due diligence process associated with a project. Once a project is developed, the opportunity for its extension—as well as its long-term financial viability—can be impacted by factors such as future grid limitations, decisions affecting the design of future energy markets, and changing government policy in relation to renewable energy as part of the broader energy mix.
GL Garrad Hassan is one of the world’s largest dedicated renewable energy consultancies and a recognized technical authority on the subject. It offers independent technical and engineering services, products, and training courses to the onshore and offshore wind, wave, tidal, and solar sectors. Although the GL Garrad Hassan name is new, the company has a rich heritage (see profile in September 2010 issue of Wind Systems at www.windsystemsmag.com). It is born of the integration of specialist companies that, united, form the renewable energy consulting division of the GL Group. GL Garrad Hassan is a consulting company; it has no equity stake in any device or project. This rule of operation is central to its philosophy, something that sets it apart from many of its competitors. For more information contact Gary Moland—GL Garrad Hassan Independent Engineering, San Diego—at (678) 691-5063 or gary.moland@gl-garradhassan.com. Go online to www.gl-garradhassan.com.
