Renewable Energy

The US Energy Information Administration data on US net generation shows that Renewable Energy has grown by approximately 5.5-percent since 2001. Renewable energy now produces approximately 13.8 percent of the US generation. This can be further broken down by technology: Hydro (6.3%), Wind (4.4%), Solar (0.5%), Biomass (1.6%), and Other (1.0%).

As Renewable Energy becomes increasingly prevalent, the evaluation of these projects much change as well. The key difference with renewable energy projects is the availability of fuel (i.e. water, wind, sun, etc.) While the fuel resource is a key aspect to the technical due diligence, it is not the only issue. At PF Engineers, it is our opinion that the importance of resource assessments receives too much attention. The resource assessment is a statistical tool from which developers and/or lenders can apply to their financial model. Other aspects such as the engineering design, construction, O&M, and environmental compliance are key factors.

PF Engineers has been the independent engineer for numerous renewable energy projects. Some of the technologies that we have reviewed include:

• Wind
• Biomass
• Solar
• Hydro
• Waste to Energy
• Landfill Gas
• Geothermal
• Anaerobic Digesters
• Energy Storage

Whether you are a developer, sponsor, or a lender, PF Engineers can help you evaluate your renewable project(s) and make sure that a thorough due diligence effort is completed. We will focus on the key issues and provide a sanity check for the resource analysis, but we want to provide value, so we don't expect to spend hundreds of hours redoing a resource assessment that has hopefully already been completed by a competent engineer.