How collaborative planning shapes construction of renewable energy projects

The need for renewable energy is undeniable today. It powers everything from homes to transportation and has become a vital source of energy to help ease escalating concerns about global climate change.

Not only is production of clean power sources—think wind, solar, and batteries that power electric vehicles—vital to meeting the ambitious decarbonization goals across Europe and around the world, but more than that, collaboration across industries, businesses, and government also plays a crucial role. It will be the key to defining management strategies that meet the challenges of climate change and energy independence, particularly in Europe.

As France rapidly advances to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it is imperative for the renewable energy industry to connect teams, data, and processes to ensure efficient project construction and delivery. Attaining the unified implementation of these solutions also demands proper expertise and tools.

A good example was presented in a recent webcast now available on demand. Titled “Why ACC Chooses Collaborative Planning to Meet the Energy Transition Challenge” and recorded entirely in French, the webcast addressed the importance of dedicated, collaborative planning to manage the construction of the facilities crucial to reaching carbon neutrality and meeting France’s net zero goals.

In this on-demand webcast, speakers Guillaume Demortain, planning function leader for Automotive Cells Company (ACC); Anthony Cassir, strategic account executive for Oracle Construction and Engineering; and Frédéric Debouche, technology manager for Proove, delved into existing solutions to deliver clean energy projects on time and on budget.

Proove, a partner of Oracle Construction and Engineering, has guided customers in Oracle solutions setup for several years now with their proven experience in project controls.

After a short introduction and deep dive into the industry challenges by Cassir, Debouche explained more about Proove’s expertise before jumping into a dynamic presentation of Oracle Primavera Cloud Service. To better understand the solution’s benefits, we hear through the interview why ACC chose collaborative scheduling to manage construction of their gigafactories for electric car batteries.

During the interview, Demortain introduced ACC, a venture founded in 2020 that brings together the expertise of three major companies: SAFT, Stellantis, and Mercedes, and is set to become the European leader of automotive batteries.

“What is demonstrated by the different ONG, an electric car produces three times less CO2 emissions than a thermal car over its entire lifecycle when the electricity used to produce the batteries that operate the car is mostly decarbonized. It is an essential in the decarbonization of vehicles,” adds Demortain.

Demortain explained that ACC is faced with planning management challenges as they built several facilities across France and even Europe to house R&D, design, testing, and production of electric vehicle batteries. ACC’s R&D center in Bruges, Belgium, and a test factory in Nersac, France, are operational now.

ACC also will have three gigafactory sites to produce EV batteries. Each gigafactory represents three separate units, Demortain said, so a total of nine factories will be built for ACC at a rapid pace. The construction of the first unit in Douvrin, France, already has started while projects in Germany and Italy are in the early design stage, he adds.

With so many projects underway, it is crucial for multiple schedules on various platforms to interface. ACC initially used Microsoft Project for project management for its testing facility in Nersac with a manufacturer that used a separate schedule process.

But it soon became clear that coordination of multiple schedules was necessary and that a cloud solution was the only answer.

“One of the major challenges was to find a cloud solution for the scheduling aspect and being able to interface all our different schedules,” says Demortain. 

Cassir, who led the panel discussion, then asked Demortain why ACC selected Oracle Primavera Cloud for its planning and project management scheduling.

Collaborative activities in a single solution were important to link their global planning and onsite activities, Demortain adds.

Demortain says that Proove is helping finalize the migration of the construction schedule for their first gigafactories into Oracle Primavera Cloud Service.

“The solution is clear and easy to use, and when everyone works off a common platform then we can synchronize schedules and better control the construction project,” Debouche says.

“The tool is easy to control for a planner and quite natural," adds Demortain.

ACC discovered that the switch from MS Project to Oracle Primavera Cloud Service built additional rigor into the planning process that allows them to have better control over their schedules and deadlines.

“The success of new technologies is that they serve a methodology, that is the company goal, and provides vital analytics,” Demortain says. “We want to continue to improve our construction processes, and we can do that with the data that comes out of our schedules.”

See how ACC improves its collaborative planning to meet decarbonization goals using Oracle Primavera Cloud Service in this on-demand webcast.

Oracle Construction and Engineering, the global leader in construction management software and project portfolio management solutions, helps you connect your teams, processes, and data across the project and asset lifecycle. Drive efficiency and control in project delivery with proven solutions for project controls, construction scheduling, portfolio management, BIM/CDE, construction payment management, and more.

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