Bureau Veritas has urged renewables developers and manufacturers to focus on the quality and maintenance of supply chain parts to reduce the levelized cost of energy in wind and solar power.
It acknowledged the pressure that the industry is facing to ensure the timely delivery of renewable projects under the current energy crisis but reminded players that quality and maintenance of parts is essential to ensure costs don’t spiral.
This prompt comes as material shortages in the supply chain continue to put pressure on delivering renewable energy projects on time, as seen recently at Equinor’s 88MW Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm off Norway,.
The installation of the final four turbines has been delayed until next spring due to steel supply chain bottlenecks, combined with the small weather window for installing offshore wind.
Poor quality product backfires significantly on overall project delivery, at a time where material availability is tight, Bureau Veritas said.
Not only the cost of going back to the drawing board on sourcing materials like steel, but by bringing projects and power to the grid later than planned, developers can be sued as the whole value chain is affected, it added.
This sees the levelized cost of energy increase, while investors seek to bring costs down.
The industry inspector added that guaranteeing quality begins at procurement, which provides quality assurance and quality control to the renewables value chain.
Bureau Veritas Global Key Account Director Renewables Anton Janssens said: “Now more than ever, quality is vital in the supply chain.
“With material shortages piling pressure on developers to meet deadlines, and investors keen to see the levelized cost of electricity come down, mitigating the risk of poor quality removes an additional layer of worry.
“Quality starts in procurement. It’s vital that potential vendors are quality assured, to ensure they can meet the needs and deadlines of a project, and that all relevant ISO certification is in place.
“Following quality assurance, quality control ensures that the final product has been witnessed and checked to guarantee its suitability for the job.
“At Bureau Veritas, we are able to represent renewables developers at all stages of the process – sourcing reliable project partners, supervision of the procurement process via shop and QA/QC inspections with the overall aim to mitigate the costs of poor quality and supply chain delays.”