ENGG2855 Project Acceptance

End of Semester Assignment – Case study

Anglue Solar Farm Project

Charles Anglue is a budding entrepreneur, assisted by a small family fortune which resides in the Anglue Family Trust.
Charles had done considerable research on green energy, and had decided that establishing a solar farm to generate
green hydrogen , and corner a potential emerging market. He became aware of a rather rundown farm located near
Burcher, north of West Wyalong that was owned by an estranged uncle, who had unlike the rest of the Anglues come
upon hard times.

The Anglue family trust consists of the family of Charles. Stronan, his father, is a second generation Australian of
mixed heritage who had made his fortune in the Nickel boom of the 1970’s. He is content with life, but has a keen
eye for maintaining his legacy into future generations (if his children ever get around to settling down, marrying and
having children). Claire, his mother, is highly active in the Sydney social scene but remains the brains of the
operation – she is very astute when assessing any of the hair brain schemes presented by Charles. Wilbur, his older
brother, is of on an Ashram somewhere and has little interest in anything other than enlightenment. Cherrie, the
baby of the family is a high profile tax lawyer quickly rising through the ranks – she provides advice to the Family
Trust. The Olde Bank provides continuing financial advice to the trust and are the potential source of funds for
Charles (provided Mummy agrees)

Charles made his pitch over a Sunday lunch for his hydrogen project and it sounded most impressive, so he had
received initial funding of $10M for initial start up activities, and used this to purchase the farm. The farm was
around 900Ha of weedy paddocks and scrub, with a rather prominent ridge in the middle, and Sharpless Creek
dissecting the property. He managed to buy the land for $750K, which he thought was an absolute bargain (he soon
found out it was the going price for land in the area). The property was located off the Burcher Road.
https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/country-nsw/parkes-area/condobolin/destination-information/burcher

Charles is trying to get the project up and running. He has a master plan (in his head) that envisages 300 Ha of solar
panels and a hydrogen plant to corner what he felt was an emerging hydrogen market – the Lake Cowal gold mine is
nearby, he envisages them as a captive market for green energy.

He teed up with Wee, Sawu & Coming Consulting Engineers, based in Sydney. They have done an initial feasibility
plan, based on a photometric survey, which impressed Charles so much he signed them onto a $3M retainer to
initiate the FEED Stage of the project.

He also has placed an advanced order for the Solar Panels and associated equipment, so confident was he of the
potential for this project. This required a down payment of $5M so that he could guarantee the production run and
have the panels available once he finished the planning phase of the works. The actual cost of building the Solar
Plant was probably something like $120M he thought, so it seemed a reasonable investment to make to guarantee
supply of a crucial element of the project.

He went to the property to start organising for some proper studies of the site when a few problems became
apparent.

The first was when he came across a APA Group Ute traversing the property, and the driver stopped to have a chat.
He advised Charles that the Moomba to Sydney Methane and Ethane pipelines traversed the property, and that as
the gas pipeline easement is registered on the property title there are conditions associated with this easement
including what you can and cannot do in the pipeline corridor area, and referred him to the APA website for
additional details: https://www.apa.com.au/pipeline-corridors/living-near-a-gas-transmission-pipeline/

This information came as a bit of a shock as it traversed through an area that would be perfect for building the solar
panel array.
ENGG2855 Project Acceptance
End of Semester Assignment – Case study

When Charles was going through the papers in his Uncle’s Bureau at the farm house, he came across a lease
document with the Cowal Gold Mine. Apparently there was a small section of Australian Pillwort (an endangered
species) in some of the billabongs next to the creek, and Cowal Gold Mine had taken a binding lease on that area as
an offset for any damage that might be caused by the mining operation. He is not sure of the impact it will have on
his plans, but an initial discussion with his lawyers (Fine & Dandy) had determined that the lease was binding, and it
put caveats on what could be done within 200metres of the area set aside – again this impacted on his plans for
locating the solar array.

He went to the Burcher General Store to get some sense of the area. The store owner was quite chatty, and
supportive of any development in the area. He was also on the Local Council, and had a keen eye for anything that
would enhance the local economy.

As Charles was enjoying his chocolate milk on the veranda (there not being a decent coffee in this part of the world),
his eyes wandered across the Community Notice Board where he saw a picture of the ridge across his property. On
closer inspection he saw it was a press release from Charles Stuart University talking about the exiting discovery of
that some Striped Legless Lizard that were found in the tussock grass around the ridge
(https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/legless-lizards) Charles what not sure what it meant, but he figured it
was probably going to be another impediment to his project

He was beginning to think he may have jumped the gun a little in committing to a FEED Project before he had done
some rudimentary assessment of the potential impacts in the area of his proposed solar farm. Fine and Dandy said
that he would need to engage a proper environmental consultant to commence the studies required to inform a
State Significant Development Application (https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/assess-and-regulate/development-
assessment/planning-approval-pathways/state-significant-development ). This was as they handed a over a $50K
retainer invoice for their services. When he asked how much the environmental studies would cost, they said maybe
$100K to $200K, they actually had no idea, and besides they were not being retained to offer environmental advice.

Undaunted, he headed back to Sydney, where he got some further bad news. He had his eye on some hydrogen
electrolysers from overseas, but production problems had arisen, and he was advised he might have to look
elsewhere for a more reliable source of supply. He was back to square one, so he went to the web and discovered
some general information (https://www.iea.org/reports/electrolysers) but it didn’t really solve his dilemma. He had
already approach the Lake Cowal Gold Mine (https://perentigroup.com/blog/location/lake-cowal-nsw-australia/),
who had expressed a passing interest in the possible use of hydrogen in their mine (after all Tiggy Forest was pushing
for it - https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/24/twiggy-forrest-green-hydrogen/ ). He was
unsure if it should form part of his project or not.

If he wasn’t going to produce hydrogen from the electricity, he had to find some other market for it. He noticed that
a solar farms was being constructed about half an hour away in West Wyalong
(https://lightsourcebp.com/au/project/west-wyalong-solar/ ). He soon discovered that he would need to tie up a
Power Purchase Agreement to sell the electricity (https://solarprofessionals.com.au/power-purchase-agreements/ ).
He would also have to connect it to the grid, with the nearest potential connection point some 30 kms away at the
Lake Cowal Gold Mine (hey, maybe he could sell them power!). Only problem was, he would have to spend of the
order of $50M to build the connection and associated switching.

In a meeting with the Anglue Family Trust Charles was grilled about his plans, his commitments to date, and the
overall cost. It would appear he may have starting planning to execute his dream, without first undertaking a proper
front end assessment of the project. He had committed most of his initial $10M to the venture, with no certainty of
getting any return on his investment. The total project costs were heading towards $200M, and had no idea how
long it would take to get a return on that investment. Mother was not happy, nor where the rest of the Trust with
what he had committed to.
ENGG2855 Project Acceptance
End of Semester Assignment – Questions

Question 1 (25 Marks)

Based on the Anglue Solar Farm project case study:
a) Describe the concept of management of projects as applied to the case study. (10 Marks)
b) Project strategy is seen as “a direction in a project that contributes to success of the project in its
environment.” Considering this definition and the project.
i. Identify the direction of the project’s strategy. (2 Marks)
ii. How does the direction contribute to the project’s strategy? (2 Marks)
iii. Identify three success criteria of this project. (3 Marks)
iv. Identify the environment of this project. (3 Marks)

c) The following diagram represents four different project strategies depending on project’s independence
and number of influential stakeholder organisations. Which type of project strategy best describes the
project and why? (5 Marks)

Question 2 (25 Marks)

The presence of coherent and well-developed institutional arrangements is the most important determinant
of project success. Considering this statement and the Anglue Solar Farm project case study:
a) Describe the ‘management of ethos’ as it applies to the Anglue Solar Farm Project (where ‘ethos’ is
seen as “character, image, narrative, ‘the subject’, or being in the works). How have peoples and
cultures impacted on the project ethos of the Anglue Solar Farm project?. (8 Marks)
b) Who were the main institutional actors in the Anglue Solar Farm project? (5 marks)
c) What were the main leadership elements needed to achieve a shared sense of reality in the Anglue
Solar Farm Project? (7 Marks)
d) What innovations could have been applied to enhance the delivery of the Anglue Solar Farm project?
(5 Marks)
ENGG2855 Project Acceptance
End of Semester Assignment – Questions

Question 3 (25 Marks)

The Anglue Solar Farm project can be defined as a dynamic project environment where the management
of stakeholders could contribute to its potential success or failure. There are a number of stakeholders
identified in the case study. Considering this statement and the project:
a) Identify the key Stakeholders and identify where they would sit in the following project
salience/position-matrix. (2 Marks)

b) Using the “Stakeholder Locus of Interest” (partially shown below), nominate the committed and
uncommitted stakeholders for the Anglue Solar Farm project. (3 Marks)

c) Stakeholders can employ different strategies to 'control' projects (i.e. power, legitimacy and urgency).
What strategies should have the project developed to manage the influence of the uncommitted
stakeholders and why? (10 Marks)
d) What are the early warning signs you have identified from a review of the case study? If you were the
Project Manager of the Anglue Solar Farm project, what actions could you have taken in response to
these early warning signs? (10 Marks)
ENGG2855 Project Acceptance
End of Semester Assignment – Questions

Question 4 (25 Marks)

Charles has made some rapid strategic decisions with scant information to implement the Anglue Solar
Farm project in an endeavour to corner what he thought was an emerging market. Based on this statement
and the project:
a) What are the four major paradigms in strategic decision making and uncertainty as applied to the
Anglue Solar Farm project? (5 Marks)
b) What were the main cognitive biases on the Anglue Solar Farm project, and how did they influence the
model used for the delivery of the project? (5 Marks)
c) What was the relationship between governance, trust and ethics in the Anglue Solar Farm Project? (5
Marks)
d) The Anglue Family Trust recognises that the project was potentially heading for disaster, and could
drain more than $200M with no idea of the time to achieve a return on investment. Consequently, they
have asked you to recommend what actions should be taken before proceeding with the project. What
would you recommend, and why? (10 Marks)
END OF ASSIGNMENT