Engineering and Project Management Approaches

The best engineering approach is the one that has been decided after early rigorous studies and
reports and that can result in significant reduction of cost and schedule (Meier, 2008). However, all
the engineering projects should be environmentally friendly as that would mean the project will be
cheaper, exert acceptance from the community and result increase in values of assets (Parashar,
2012). In case of solar voltaic technology, the drivers for cost reduction are improvement in
technology, increase in investment, favorable policies and stakeholder engagement and reduction in
price of silicon (Pillai, 2015). However, focusing on land which is of low agricultural quality can
obviously be considered as one of the adoptable best practices for New England Solar Farm to
protect relevant environment. Also, effective engagement of the community is essential
management aspect of all infrastructure projects, and this project is also not an exception. If
significant economical expenses are made for the generation of indirect employment for the locals
and construction of the infrastructure around the solar farms, the project can enjoy support and
guidance for innovation from the community (Community Engagement and Benefit Sharing in
Renewable Energy Development in Victoria, 2021). In the same context, the need to build the road
around the solar field to connect the site to the local network remains significant.

A number of project management approaches seems considerable on the light of managing New
England Solar Farm. Among them, lean construction had always been considered suitable for all the
engineering projects adopting similar patterns of manufacturing. The lean method usually has a set
of objectives and peculiar delivery processes enabling management of budget which consequently
have advantages like improvement of quality because of proper management of waste, effective
engagement of human resources and better satisfaction of the project. In the context of using solar
power as a source of power production, the initial production cost is the main drawback and lean
practices can minimize this drawback by eliminating wastes like excessive production, waiting
between phases of production, unnecessary movement of materials, underused human capital, etc.
(Momenitabar, 2020). The procurement of materials and resources during different stages of solar
power production directed by lean principles definitely helps decrease in wastages of time and
resources (McCreary, 2010). Another project management that can come handy is waterfall where
the requirements of the stakeholders and the investors or end customers are noted in the beginning
which is followed by creation and execution of project plans for accommodation of that needs.
Gantts charts are often used for the scheduling of the project, what tasks depend on and length of
the tasks. Movement of projects through the workflow is higher in small solar project as tasks only
take few hours for completion (Kazakov, 2021). Similarly agile project management is also
considerable in big solar projects where everything is scheduled and planned before the
construction and speed and iterations are given high importance. If the expenses are not contrained,
‘meetings’ or ‘standups’ can be held to discover problems in the design or process like ‘inability to
run wire until the presence of puller on site’ and progress through the sprint (Kazakov, 2021).

Most importantly, he most effective strategies for projects like New England Solar Farm during
project management are appropriate allocation of budget, provision of resources that support
advancement in achievement of objectives at different times of the execution of the project,
operation of cost system to track and predict expenses during various stages, delivery of advice to
stakeholders through value engineering activities and utilization of engineering consultants (Ofori-
Boadu, 2012)
Bibliography
(2021). Retrieved from Community Engagement and Benefit Sharing in Renewable Energy
Development in Victoria:
https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0036/536787/Community-
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%20community%20engagement%20impo

Kazakov, M. (2021). Agile Project Management in Solar.

McCreary, P. (2010). Renewable Lean.

Meier, J. (2008). Discussion of engineering and project management approaches.

Momenitabar, M. (2020). A Proposed Lean Distribution System for Solar Power Plants Using
Mathematical Modeling and Simulation Technique.

Ofori-Boadu, A. (2012). Exploration of management practices for LEED projects : Lessons from
successful green building contractors.

Parashar, A. K. (2012). Construction of an Eco-Friendly Building using Green Building Approach.

Pillai, U. (2015). Drivers for Cost Reduction in Solar Photovoltaics.