Renewable Energy Projects
Louis Dreyfus Commodities – 100 MGPY Ethanol Plant
When a former customer called ECS about a massive $190 million dollar ethanol plant, his company had already entered a contract with the Nation’s leading design-build general contractor but were behind schedule. They had a long list of incomplete “owner responsible” items that had to be done before the GC would start work on site. As a result, the GC threatened to pull off their project, move them down the construction queue, and charge them a huge financial penalty for the delay. In addition, the delay would cost the shareholders of Louis Dreyfus millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Louis Dreyfus hired ECS to get their work back on schedule and to oversee all aspects of their construction project. ECS staff immediately began working 12-hours a day, seven days a week. Urgent work included permitting, environmental, a new electrical substation, gas supply, water supply, water treatment, effluent discharge, fire protection, railroad work, and road construction. ECS also oversaw design and construction of the office building and grain truck scale building. Through a concerted team effort with the Louis Dreyfus staff, ECS succeeded in meeting all the critical dates and the GC began working on site as scheduled with no delays or financial penalties.
Under Scott Flynn's leadership, the GC performed exceptionally well. ECS Action Items from weekly Project Meetings kept them on schedule, under budget, and maintained quality workmanship. In addition, ECS was successful in finding major cost savings for the owner through value engineering and expediting the schedule. At the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Louis Dreyfus staff expressed how happy they were with the project completion and the GC shared that this was the most successful plant they had built to date – truly a win-win for all companies involved.
Superior Ethanol – 50 MGPY Ethanol Plant
In the peak of the ethanol plant construction boom, a new company decided to venture into the ethanol business. Because design and construction of ethanol plants was dominated by only one general contractor, getting that GC to design and build a plant was expensive and slow. As a result, the ethanol company chose to hire an alternative design firm and work with a construction team that was new to the ethanol industry. To minimize the risks for their shareholders and find cost savings, they hired ECS to direct all aspects of the $105 million dollar project.
At the outset of the project, ECS led Design Meetings to keep the process and plant design on track and oversaw the complex plant permitting process. ECS also got gas and electricity to the site, oversaw design and construction of the office and truck scale buildings, managed the railroad loop design and construction and got the plant roads designed and built. In addition, ECS coordinated well water supply work, water treatment systems, fire protection and complex effluent discharge systems.
When construction began, ECS led weekly Project Meetings and generated Action Items with required completion dates for critical path work. Soon it became clear the general contractor and one of his subcontractors had issues. The mechanical contractor, a childhood friend of the GC, was behind schedule and insisted on costly change orders to proceed. Led by concerted efforts of ECS, a more qualified, less expensive mechanical contractor was hired to replace the one originally hired by the GC. Although this was difficult, it was necessary to get the project schedule back on track and ensure the mechanical work would be done with quality workmanship for a fair price.
Throughout the project, ECS focused on value engineering and was successful in saving the owner millions of dollars that completely covered their project management fees so their professional services were essentially free and the owner pocketed significant savings.
Green Plains Renewable Energy – 50 MGPY Ethanol plant
Having the premier design-build general contractor in the nation build your ethanol plant sounds appealing. The reality, however, is that it is still very challenging - especially when the general contractor is buried with work. That’s what a key ECS client discovered when they set out to have their $85 million dollar ethanol plant built. The owners soon learned they had to compete for limited design resources. They also were given a long list of demands for “owner responsible” items they had to get done by certain dates in order keep their place in the construction queue. Missing a date meant delaying their plant and losing millions of dollars. Due to this intense pressure, the owners called Scott Flynn of ECS for professional help.
The immediate tasks that ECS faced were completing the gas supply, electrical supply, permitting, road construction, grey-water supply system, water treatment system, fire protection, effluent discharge, and railroad work. Through a concerted effort by ECS and the plant staff, the key dates were met for each of the critical path items and the general contractor agreed to get started on site as planned. ECS also oversaw design and construction of the office and truck scale buildings.
Once plant construction got underway, it was clear to ECS the general contractor was not meeting contractual obligations. Through weekly Project Meetings, ECS discovered the design work was behind schedule and this was delaying the construction work. Detailed ECS meeting minutes with specific Action Items clearly showed multiple Action Items were not done on time. After trying to resolve the issues with the GC's on-site Project Manager, ECS went straight to the top of the revered general contracting firm. This action got the critical issues resolved and got the general contractor back on schedule to complete the project as planned.
ECS focused on value engineering and found significant cost savings for the owner. In addition, ECS saved the owner millions of dollars of lost revenue by completing the "owner responsible" items on time so the GC could get started and by getting the GC to expedite their work.