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Date
A story in this month's PM Network magazine, "Geothermal Energy is Hot in Iceland", provides a good example of the complexities involved in any energy project. But in particular, it points us to the core PM skills that a PM working in the area of sustainability must have.
Something that seems so intuitively green - drawing from already-present energy within the Earth to drive turbines and generate electricity with a minimum of carbon footprint - is not as straightforward as it seems.
First a little background. Geothermal power projects are increasing. Going back to 2010 - a whole 3 years ago - we find only 26 countries with geothermal developments. Now in 2013 (and we're less than halfway through) there are 64 countries with 567 geothermal projects in progress or in operation worldwide.
We suggest that you have a look at the entire article for the rationale to further develop the geothermal power grid in Iceland but it involves a massive undersea cable that would run from Iceland to Scotland and then to continental Europe. And it's part of an overall effort to meet the EU's mandatory agreement to get to at least 20% of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
What's interesting to us is the assemblage of stakeholders that have to be satisfied for this proejct to get underway. You've already read here - and hopefully will read more - about the motivation and the EU governmental stakeholders. Obviously, electric power rate payers are stakeholders as is the Icelandic government. But also in the mix is a non-profit Invest in Iceland group, promoting the project. But there is also a consortium of 11 national environmental groups who warn that the profit margin could drive the project to have enormous environmental impact due to the actual construction of the power plants themselves as well as the overhead power lines. They also warn that geothermal drilling that gets too 'aggressive' could actually remove geothermal from the list of renewable sources of power (because in their eyes it becomes akin to mining).
A lot is at stake here. This is a project requiring an initial investment of over US$2B.
So our point is that whatever the project, stakeholder identification and management is critical. As we know, PMI has now devoted an entire Knowledge Area - ironically, Chapter 13 - to look at the unlucky combinations of project stakeholders with whom we have to work. Even green projects which appear on the surface (or in this case way BELOW the surface) to be obvious 'slam dunk' projects which should be green lit, deserve a sophisticated and thorough stakehholder analysis.
So it pays to drill down.
And the pun is intentional.
Posted
by
Richard Maltzman
on: May 05, 2013 10:02 PM |
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