Texas Solar Farm: A Visual Of Project Interdependency At Work

GO’s Foot Traffic, Computer Vision Show Activity Ramp-Up Before $400mm Deal For Phoebe Solar Plant

No project is an island unto itself. Most projects depend on other interconnected efforts or initiatives to deliver enabling capabilities that result in their success. Likewise, projects that have “made it” contribute enabling capabilities of their own to newer and emerging projects and initiatives. This rotational cycle of enterprise is what’s called Project Interdependency.

Optimal project interdependence is achieved when the so-called enabling is coordinated to minimize schedule slippage, reduce solution conflict, and prevent duplication of effort in order to achieve peak portfolio performance.

All these theories come alive in our analysis of the 315-megawatt Phoebe solar farm in Texas, which was a project developed by Longroad Energy Partners before it was sold to Innergex Renewable Energy.

A Win-Win For Both Project Conceptualizer And Executor

Phoebe, the single largest solar project in the Lone Star State, costs nearly $400 million and will be completed by the third quarter of 2019. It will provide power to Shell Energy North America over a 12-year period under a contract between the two parties. The classic example of a “win-win” deal, Innergex formally entered the Phoebe deal only after financing and other key requirements enabled by Longroad.

Above: Orbital Insight GO geofences Winkler Solar farm and nearby counties to create a pattern of life analysis.

Project Phoebe highlights the importance for supply chain partners to understand inventory and contract risks in an infrastructure project before committing to it. In this case, those in agreement to supply service to, or buy electricity from the solar asset developer would benefit in knowing how the project is coming along — whether it’s progressing to plan or stalling. Such optics help raise red flags early in the project and reduce the risk for supply chain partners.

As Longroad set about with preliminary work on Phoebe between January and July 2017, foot-traffic and geospatial-powered imaging rendered by Orbital Insight’s GO platform show little activity at the solar farm site in Winkler Country, West Texas.

But right after the summer of that year, and through to late 2018, foot-traffic spiked as Longroad and its partner, 7X Energy, jointly developed the project’s core and design, as well as arranging its financing by Wells Fargo.

Above: Orbital Insight GO monitors foot traffic at Winkler Solar farm to quantify workforce trends.

GO Shines A Huge Light On Physical Activity At Any Site

Phoebe is one of the finest working examples of Project Interdependency, where the first aspect of the project to bring solar power to West Texas was conceptualized by Longroad and the second — to channel the supply to Shell Energy — is being executed by Innergex.

Orbital Insight’s technology adds a layer of high-end transparency to such ventures, enabling stakeholders to see if the level of activity in the Area of Interest (AOI) complements the schedule laid out.

The transparency of our GO data — which uses geolocation to verify basic workforce activity on a site and computer vision to pixelate the different types of construction that’s ongoing; i.e. building or road — can be critical for investors and lenders in an infrastructure project. In the case of a solar farm like Phoebe, it helps validate due diligence by parties such as buyer lnnergex and banker Wells Fargo. Parsing the GO data, one will notice heightened foot counts at the Phoebe site from the start of this year until Innergex’s entry into the project in July. Now, with the project at or near completion of construction, the foot-traffic has naturally started to plateau.

Above: Orbital Insight GO detects activity ramp up to tip off computer vision based land use projects to visualize empty land to solar panel frames.

For supply chain partners, investors and state & local governments, the ability to quickly conduct high-level due diligence across renewable assets globally can significantly reduce the amount of time spent on unnecessary deals. Validation by GO can help expedite due-diligence works, improve sourcing of compelling deals, and enhance deal flows for more efficient returns.

For more information on gaining activity-based insights using GO, please reach out to support@orbitalinsight.com