Which wind farm service do I need?
If you know production is down but not why, start with a Performance Review. If you are buying, refinancing or exiting warranty, start with Technical Due Diligence. If you have one specific engineering question, a curtailment number, an availability claim, an upgrade to verify, that is Additional Services. If you are not sure, a call will place it in ten minutes.
What does a wind farm performance review or due diligence cost?
Most services are priced on a formula, a fixed site fee plus a per turbine fee, so you can estimate the cost before you ask. For a ten turbine site a one off engagement typically falls between £2,000 and £10,000 depending on which service you need. Pricing is indicative and every engagement is quoted individually, with the fee fixed in the proposal before work starts.
Which services are quoted individually?
Technical due diligence, root cause analysis support, upgrade performance verification, commissioning and end of warranty assessment and independent technical support. The scope of these varies too much for a formula, so each is quoted against what the engagement actually needs. Sites above about 40 turbines and fleet wide assessments are also quoted individually, so the economies of scale go to you rather than being lost in a per turbine rate.
How long does an engagement take?
Most scopes are completed within a month of receiving the data, and simpler pieces of work faster. Complex or multi site engagements may take longer and the timeline is set out in the proposal. Transaction deadlines can usually be met if they are raised at the proposal stage.
Do you work for owners, or for lenders and investors too?
Both. Investors and lenders tend to focus on technical due diligence and performance reviews, where the question is what technical risk sits in an asset and whether the production case holds up. Owners and operators use those too and draw on Additional Services as a catalogue of more specific assessments, a curtailment number, an availability claim, an upgrade to verify. Work is scoped to the question rather than to the type of client.
Can you review a single turbine or a small wind farm?
Yes. Scope is sized to the site, not to a minimum portfolio. Single turbine and small site owners often have the least analytical support and the most at stake per machine. PowerVeritas is run by a director of a small operational wind turbine business, so that position is a familiar one.
Are you independent of the turbine OEM and the O&M contractor?
Yes. PowerVeritas has no commercial relationship with the OEM or the O&M contractor whose work an engagement examines, so there is no conflict between the analysis and the party it assesses. Findings are written to be handed to that contractor, or to your board or lender, and to survive being challenged. Every conclusion is traceable back to the raw SCADA.
If a performance review finds nothing, do I still pay?
Performance reviews are offered on the basis that if the review produces no actionable findings there is no fee, on the terms set out in the proposal. That is a real transfer of risk, and it raises a fair question, does it create an incentive to find something. The answer is the method. Losses only enter headline numbers where the data supports them, and every finding has to be actionable, evidenced and traceable to source.
