SUSTAINABILITY
“ As well as new technology around renewable energy there ’ s also an upscaling of existing tech ”
STEVEN MUNDAY , GLOBAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LEAD ,
WTW
He adds that , as well as new technologies emerging around renewable energy , there is also an “ upscaling of existing technologies ”, including hydrogen , battery storage and wind technologies .
“ All of this equipment has to come from somewhere ,” he points out , “ and we are seeing that the original equipment manufacturers of all technologies are trying to produce sufficient amounts for what is required globally .”
He adds : “ That is very difficult , and it is challenging the supply chain , particularly after the pandemic , and we are seeing that there is a major impact on projects ’ timelines .” Munday adds that pre-pandemic , renewable energy companies were “ in a race to deliver as quickly as possible ”, and that sometimes this impacted quality , “ especially if there were challenges with the workforce not having the right experience ”.
He says post-pandemic , there is now “ a move away from less experienced workforces ” around renewable energy and also a shift away from ‘ just-in-time ’ delivery of projects .
He says lessons have been learned from the pandemic , with regard to supply chain interruption and availability issues , and that this is prompting organisations “ to be more considered about renewable energy projects and to make sure power transformers , wind turbines or electrolysers are available at an earlier stage “ to mitigate potential supply chain delivery and to avoid delay damages ”. supplychaindigital . com 77