EPC & Construction Services stands for engineering, procurement, and construction. It is a prominent form of contracting agreement in the construction industry, according to EPC Engineer. Companies that provide EPC services are often called EPC contractors. They are in charge of designing the energy solution to help a particular facility solve its energy problems and then move on to the construction of that specific project.
Instead of transferring the design plan to a construction company or adopting a plan from an engineering company, EPC services allow the contractors to support their clients throughout the entire life cycle of a project.
EPC services include, according to Origis Energy:
Engineering:
- Technical evaluation
- DC engineering
- AC engineering
- Storage scaling
- Grid integration and interconnection
- Cost analysis
- Return analysis
- Project management
Procurement:
- Procurement of equipment
- Selecting subcontractors
- Insurances
- Guarantee management
- Cost analysis
- Logistics
- Project management
Construction:
- Coordination and supervision of the construction process
- Interconnection
- Risk management
- Quality control
- Project management
Now, we are going to break all of these elements down and put them into the three phases of an EPC service.
Engineering Phase
During the engineering phase, the EPC contractor will conduct an energy audit as a full assessment of the energy performance in the facility and design energy models to ensure calculation accuracy. Engineering is a crucial phase in an energy project because it is where energy solutions are designed to fit the facility’s needs using the data collected in the energy audit. Engineers will use special 3D design software like SketchUp to show clients what could work on their facility.
Procurement Phase
During the procurement phase, the facility owner and the EPC contractor have come to an agreement on necessary energy solutions. It’s the phase where the energy project developer goes out to buy the parts necessary to build the engineered designs. In order to ensure that the installed systems will be of high quality, it is necessary that the EPC contractor properly screens options from manufacturers both overseas and locally, while keeping the budget in mind.
Construction Phase
During the construction phase, the equipment has already arrived. The construction team will provide construction services that integrate the systems into the facility. Engineered designs are actually constructed using the materials procured for the job. Attention to detail here is important because inadequately installing energy systems can cause problems in the long run. So, in this phase, installers take a great deal of time and care to ensure that the engineered solutions provided by the EPC contractor are accurate and installed properly.
Benefits of working with EPC contractors include, according to WHC:
- Single point of accountability: the client can refer to one single company for the entire phase of the project
- Owner transfers interface management risks to EPC contractor: you don’t need to worry about passing the project along to another company and having to explain everything to another company
- Enhanced construct-ability drives down costs
- Integrated flow of information and communication
- Aligned interests and common project goals
- Efficient project execution with condensed project schedules
- EPC contractors will guarantee the facility meets the performance requirements specified by the client: a failure to meet the requirement results in liquidated damages against the EPC contractor