Clean Energy Consulting: a Guide to Building the Energy Infrastructure of Tomorrow
Energy is the backbone of modern infrastructure, powering industries, businesses, and households worldwide. With increasing demand and the urgent need for security, reliability, and sustainability, energy project execution has become more complex and essential than ever. Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) firms play a crucial role in delivering efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable energy solutions. Their expertise spans multiple energy sectors, ensuring projects are designed, built, and maintained with the highest levels of efficiency and compliance.
The Role of Energy in Modern Infrastructure and What is Energy Management
Energy is fundamental to modern economies, supporting industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, commercial and smart buildings. Efficient energy management is essential to ensure cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability. EPCM firms help businesses adopt energy-saving solutions, such as optimizing existing energy infrastructure, implementing combined heat and power systems, and integrating renewable energy sources.
Definition and Difference Between Power and Energy
In the EPCM world, power and energy have different definitions which is important to understanding the work in various industries. Power is typically referred to as electrical energy only within an electrical utility’s infrastructure, Energy can be all inclusive of various types of energy, including chemical energy, oil and gas, nuclear energy, renewable energy, electrical energy, and more. It’s important to know and understand the difference between these two terms when working in different industries and on different projects.
Understanding the Energy Landscape and ESG Principles
As global energy demands grow and sustainability becomes a top priority, understanding the evolving energy landscape and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles is essential. Here we explore the trends shaping energy production and consumption, including the balance between renewable and non-renewable sources, and the regulatory factors influencing project development.
Global Energy Demand and Current Supply Trends
Energy demand is rising due to urbanization, industrial growth, and technological advancements. Emerging economies are expanding their energy infrastructure, while developed nations focus on reducing reliance on fossil fuels and integrating renewables. EPCM firms must navigate these shifts, ensuring projects align with future energy needs and sustainability goals.
Renewable vs. Non-Renewable Energy Sources
- Renewable Energy: Renewable energy sources—including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass—are at the center of global energy transition strategies. Many industrial clients and large-scale facilities are integrating these sources to meet corporate sustainability goals, reduce long-term energy costs, and comply with ESG principles. EPCM firms support clients by designing and executing renewable projects that align with operational needs, whether through onsite solar installations, or wind turbine integration. Additionally, businesses are increasingly investing in energy storage solutions, such as battery storage, to ensure reliability and resilience in their power supply. EPCM expertise is critical in assessing feasibility, optimizing grid interconnect, and ensuring seamless integration with existing energy infrastructure.
- Non-Renewable Energy: Despite the push toward renewables, many clients—particularly in heavy industry, manufacturing, and utilities—still rely on traditional energy sources such as coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power to maintain stable and continuous operations. Natural gas remains a preferred option for its lower emissions profile and flexibility in power generation, while nuclear energy is increasingly considered for long-term, low-carbon baseload power. EPCM firms help clients navigate regulatory changes, implement emission reduction technologies such as carbon capture and waste heat recovery, and improve overall plant efficiency to align with tightening environmental standards. For clients planning to transition away from traditional fuels, EPCM firms play a strategic role in evaluating hybrid energy models, incorporating clean energy consulting, and managing the infrastructure upgrades needed for a more sustainable future.
Regulatory and Environmental Considerations
Regulatory frameworks vary across regions, influencing energy production, distribution, and consumption. Policies such as carbon pricing, renewable energy mandates, and emissions reduction targets shape project feasibility. Clients in every industry understand the impact their energy usage, and energy efficiency, has on the environment and the grid as a whole. Being conscious of usage and efficiency helps make smarter decisions on project investments. EPCM firms must also stay informed about evolving policies to ensure compliance and maximize investment returns for clients.
Energy Project Lifecycle in EPCM
Executing energy projects requires a structured approach to ensure efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and compliance with industry regulations. EPCM firms oversee the entire lifecycle—from initial feasibility studies to long-term maintenance—helping companies navigate complex challenges such as supply chain constraints, regulatory requirements, and technological integration. By leveraging strategic planning, engineering expertise, and advanced project management tools, EPCM firms play a critical role in delivering sustainable and resilient energy infrastructure.
Feasibility Studies and Conceptual Design
Energy projects begin with feasibility studies assessing financial viability, technological requirements, and environmental impact. Conceptual design outlines the project’s scope, infrastructure needs, and expected energy output. EPCM firms analyze various energy-saving solutions to enhance project sustainability and cost-effectiveness.
Engineering and Design Principles
Effective engineering ensures optimal energy efficiency, incorporating elements such as heat exchangers, and building automation systems. Digital modeling and simulations help EPCM firms predict performance, optimize layouts, and ensure compliance with industry standards.
Procurement Strategies for Energy Projects
Successful procurement involves selecting cost-effective materials, ensuring supplier reliability, and managing logistics. EPCM firms negotiate contracts, assess supply chain risks, and secure components such as turbines, transformers, and high-efficiency boilers.
Construction Management Best Practices
Energy project construction requires meticulous scheduling, resource allocation, and adherence to safety regulations. EPCM firms implement rigorous quality control measures, leveraging advanced monitoring systems to detect inefficiencies and prevent costly delays.
Commissioning, Operations, and Maintenance
Post-construction, commissioning verifies that all systems function correctly, ensuring regulatory compliance and operational efficiency. Ongoing maintenance strategies, such as predictive maintenance and real-time energy monitoring, help businesses minimize downtime and optimize performance.
An EPCM Approach to Key Energy Sectors
Energy projects vary widely depending on the sector, each with unique challenges, regulatory requirements, and technological considerations. EPCM firms provide tailored solutions to optimize project execution, ensuring efficiency, safety, and sustainability across industries such as renewable energy, oil and gas, power generation, and industrial energy solutions.
Oil & Gas
Despite a shift toward renewables, oil and gas remain essential for energy security, and various other necessary petroleum products. EPCM firms manage exploration, extraction, and refining processes, ensuring safety and efficiency while mitigating environmental impact. While the building of new refineries has slowed, it has been important to maintain existing refining assets, keeping them safe and efficient, EPCM firms play a large role in redesigning refining facilities to increase yield and decrease emissions. Common ways this is accomplished typically include replacing old equipment that has reached the end of its life cycle with newer, more reliable, and higher performing pieces of equipment, simplifying and improving the efficiency of the existing process, and integrating new technology that will help improve the process overall.
Power Generation & Utilities
Traditional power generation relies on coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants. EPCM firms support utilities by modernizing aging infrastructure, integrating energy storage systems, and implementing smart grid solutions to enhance reliability. This is often done by accessing existing infrastructure to determine where improvements can be made based on usage, complexity, energy efficiency, and other factors.
Industrial Energy Solutions
Industries rely on energy-efficient solutions to reduce costs and emissions. EPCM firms optimize manufacturing processes with energy-saving strategies, waste heat recovery, and combined heat and power facilities.
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy projects require specialized knowledge in grid integration, storage solutions, and financial modeling. EPCM firms design and construct large-scale solar farms, wind parks, renewable natural gas plants, and hydroelectric dams, ensuring maximum energy yield and sustainability.
How the Cost of Energy Affects Various Industries
Energy costs play a critical role in shaping the operational expenses and competitiveness of industries worldwide. Fluctuations in energy prices can impact everything from production costs to supply chain stability and long-term investment strategies. Industries with high energy demands, such as manufacturing, refining, and chemical processing, are particularly vulnerable to price volatility. Understanding how energy costs influence different sectors allows businesses to implement efficiency measures, explore alternative energy sources, and develop strategies to mitigate financial risk.
Supply and Demand Dynamics
Energy prices fluctuate due to shifts in supply and demand. When demand is high, such as during extreme weather or economic booms, energy costs rise. Supply constraints, whether caused by infrastructure limitations, geopolitical tensions, or resource depletion, can also drive-up costs.
Fuel and Raw Material Costs
The costs of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil, as well as key minerals for renewable energy components, significantly impact energy pricing. Market volatility, trade restrictions, and extraction costs all play a role in determining energy prices.
Infrastructure and Transmission Costs
Building and maintaining energy infrastructure, including power plants, pipelines, and transmission grids, requires substantial investment. The further energy must travel, the more expensive it becomes due to transmission losses and necessary infrastructure upgrades.
Regulatory and Policy Factors
Government policies, including emissions taxes, subsidies, and energy mandates, influence overall costs. Regulations designed to encourage sustainability can increase short-term expenses but lead to long-term cost savings through efficiency improvements.
Technology and Innovation
Advancements in energy storage, smart grid technology, and digital automation can reduce energy costs by improving efficiency and reducing waste. EPCM firms incorporate these innovations into energy projects to enhance performance and minimize costs.
Geopolitical and Environmental Influences
Political instability, trade wars, and environmental regulations can disrupt energy markets and supply chains. Natural disasters and climate change-related disruptions also contribute to price volatility and infrastructure repair costs.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Wind Energy Transmission in the Texas High Plains
The Texas High Plains is a major hub for wind energy, with over 11,000 turbines generating electricity for millions of homes. However, transmission constraints have historically limited the ability to transport this energy to other regions, leading to curtailment and inefficiencies.
To address this, Texas implemented the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) initiative, constructing 345 kV transmission lines capable of moving 18.5 GW of electricity. Despite these efforts, the rapid expansion of wind energy has outpaced existing infrastructure, necessitating further investment.
In response, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1.5 billion investment in October 2024 to support four major transmission projects, including the Southern Spirit transmission line. This 320-mile project will connect the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid with southeastern U.S. markets, improving grid resilience and enabling broader utilization of Texas wind energy.
These initiatives are crucial for maximizing wind power potential, reducing curtailment, and ensuring a stable, renewable energy supply across the region.
15MW Combined Heat and Power Development at Midwest Refinery
A major Midwest refinery required a reliable and efficient power generation solution to enhance energy security and reduce operational costs. When integrated into the facilities the main power grid, added reliability and resilience are provided in the event of a utility power outage. For this project, a conceptual design was developed that provides 15 MW of power generation to reduce electrical energy supply costs, improve profitability and energy efficiency while maintaining a high level of electrical and steam supply reliability.
Nexus provided engineering and project management support for the development of a 15MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. Nexus was challenged with evaluating and sizing steam generation from the CHP units that would displace steam generated by two existing utility boilers and the waste heat steam generation within the plant. The design required balancing the overall electrical and steam generation being produced within plant operational parameters to rely less on the electrical grid and be more sustainable, while providing for a cost-effective solution and a positive return on investment.
Nexus provided technical expertise needed by the owner to define the project scope and develop conceptual process and the electrical design basis parameters. Nexus also gathered specific equipment pricing which included gas turbines, heat recovery steam generators, gas compressors, electrical paralleling switchgear and powerhouse, black start generator, and CEMS/CHP system controls. The Project Team chose a two-train CHP/HRSG design to provide improved reliability for the plant. A trip of one turbine, providing 7.5 MW of generation, was felt to be within the ability of the current utility provider to handle the load shift without interfering with current facility operations.
Conclusion & Key Takeaways
Building the energy infrastructure of tomorrow requires a strategic, multidisciplinary approach that balances efficiency, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. As global energy demand rises and industries transition toward cleaner, more resilient energy solutions, EPCM firms play an essential role in delivering innovative, compliant, and high-performance energy projects.
Key takeaways from this guide include:
- The Evolving Energy Landscape – The energy sector is shifting towards a more sustainable future, with a growing emphasis on renewable energy integration, energy efficiency improvements, and the modernization of aging infrastructure. EPCM firms must adapt to these changes by leveraging advanced technologies and regulatory insights to support their clients effectively.
- Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Strategies – While the transition to renewables is accelerating, traditional energy sources still play a significant role in industrial and utility-scale applications. EPCM firms help bridge this transition by designing hybrid energy solutions, optimizing fuel use, and integrating storage systems for greater reliability.
- Regulatory and Environmental Considerations – Compliance with energy policies, emissions standards, and sustainability regulations is paramount. Firms must stay ahead of policy shifts, carbon pricing mechanisms, and energy mandates to help clients maximize investments and achieve long-term efficiency goals.
- EPCM in the Energy Project Lifecycle – From feasibility studies to commissioning and maintenance, EPCM firms ensure energy projects meet technical, financial, and environmental benchmarks. Best practices in procurement, construction, and engineering enhance project success while minimizing risks and costs.
- Sector-Specific Approaches – The energy needs of industries vary significantly. Oil & gas, power generation, manufacturing, and renewables each require tailored EPCM strategies to optimize performance, improve safety, and align with industry best practices.
- Economic and Market Influences – Energy costs are shaped by supply and demand dynamics, fuel pricing, infrastructure investment, and geopolitical factors. EPCM firms help clients navigate these complexities by identifying cost-saving opportunities and enhancing energy security.
- Innovative Solutions for a Resilient Future – Advances in energy storage, smart grids, and digital automation are transforming how industries manage energy. EPCM firms play a vital role in implementing these solutions to create a more flexible, adaptive, and sustainable energy landscape.
The path to a sustainable and efficient energy future depends on the collaboration between industries, policymakers, and engineering experts. By leveraging EPCM expertise, businesses can confidently navigate the evolving energy sector, ensuring long-term success while contributing to a cleaner, more resilient global energy network.
Let’s Connect
To learn more about how Nexus can support your energy infrastructure needs, visit www.nexusegroup.com/our-expertise or reach out to Gabe Sciarretti, Senior Business Director, at gabe.sciarretti@nexusegroup.com
