We provide our clients with a broad array of project development services in support of operations and business objectives. We provide these services within the differing arenas of public power, private equity, owner self-build, participatory arrangements and hybrids. Our project successes include utility-scale solar coal and natural gas electric generation projects, as well as wind, solar, biomass, municipal waste and other renewable projects. WPE has provided development services for power plant projects in Arizona, Connecticut, Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pacific Islands and the Virgin Islands.

Our team comprises seasoned professionals who understand the fundamental issues critical to success. We assist project development through a variety of consulting services including:

• Owner’s Engineering –
• Independent Engineering –
• Conceptual Project Engineering
• Site Investigations & Layout
• Fatal Flaw Analysis & Feasibility Studies
• Technology Review & Evaluations
• Supplier Assessments
• Environmental Compliance
• Permitting Reviews
• Financing Support Advice
• Annual Operating Reviews
• PV Production Modeling
• Financial Model Review

WPE has proprietary cost models for feasibility analyses associated with electric supply to oil & gas operations, mining and manufacturing plants. The cost models are updated frequently to reflect changing distributed generation and micro-grid technologies.

The WPE team consists of experienced consultants with long-term success supporting the energy industry. Clients and their project teams benefit greatly from the expertise and leadership rendered by WPE consultants. Our consultants provide project planning, definition of resource requirements (i.e. fuel, land, water and associated interconnections), project management and project cost estimates. WPE partners with clients to make difficult decisions concerning project feasibility, execution and operations. We then help support those decisions with excellent oral communications, well-reasoned analyses, and professionally written reports. WPE’s involvement in projects yields significant value, cost- savings and risk reduction to our clients. We work hard to deliver a level of professionalism translates to long- term value and project success.

As a WPE core competency, Owner’s Engineering is an area in which our staff is “best in class” in terms of experience and capabilities. We provide value directly to utilities and developers with reasonable rates for highly efficient and experienced staff. WPE works closely with Owners in evaluating project issues, recommending solutions and implementing such solutions with complementary savings to the Owner. WPE brings together experienced project teams that include electric utility management, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, finance and consulting experience. These ingredients allow WPE to provide valued services to owners during every project phase from initial study, permitting and finance to design, construction and commissioning.

WPE can lead and support solar and energy storage projects throughout each stage of the project: from project feasibility through mature operations; from energy production estimates to construction monitoring and annual operating reviews. WPE support capabilities extend to utility scale projects, C&I portfolios, community and municipal projects.

In addition, our consultants have extensive experience with the following renewable technologies, from preliminary project development through contract preparation and construction management.

• Geothermal
• Fuel cells
• Emerging technologies
• Biogas including landfill gas projects
• Biomass

Our consultants have extensive experience with boiler waste-to-energy conversions and municipal solid waste (MSW) to refuse-derived fuel.

WPE supports owners, lenders, financial entities, utilities, co-ops, developers and joint-action agencies with Independent Engineering (IE) Services, including reviews and studies of:

• Technology & Vendor Selection
• Project Scope and Site Placement
• Construction Requirements
• Equipment Supply and Construction Contracts
• Interconnection Requirements and Contracts
• Environmental Compliance
• Permitting Review
• O&M Requirements and Costs
• Project Schedule
• Project Capital Costs
• Financial Proforma Model Inputs

Our staff’s IE experience includes review and evaluation of over 30 GW of new and existing coal fired generation, over 10 GW of gas fired generation and over 3.5 GW of utility-scale, distributed generation, commercial and industrial PV projects.

WPE offers a wide range of technical advisory services ranging from routine studies and evaluations to complex investigations that pose significant and/or unique challenges. Our background and areas of expertise are extensive, allowing us to effectively address challenges over a broad range of technical areas. WPE’s staff consists of problem solvers who work closely with clients to resolve issues that are important to their near-term and long-term objectives. WPE enjoys a high level of trust within our large network of clients and former colleagues. It results from being aware of and attentive to the needs of our clients. We are old school and acutely aware of the issues and challenges that our clients face. In former years many of us worked diligently to “keep the lights on” and keep the companies running, which gives us perspective in addressing the needs of our clients and development of solutions that are timely, cost-effective and well-thought out.

WPE provides clients highly competitive project staffing and resource solutions as a result of our low overhead costs and careful cost management. Our experience and contacts within the energy industry allow us to promptly deploy well qualified professionals on projects that range from discrete, specialized projects to large, multi-discipline projects. WPE adapts to client personnel preferences and quickly assembles experienced and cost-effective teams. We often work with clients to redeploy retired personnel and other industry experts on specific projects without the complexity and cost of re- employment.

WPE supports new development and capital projects with Construction Management and Oversight Services. WPE allocates competitive technical manpower, including degreed construction management personnel and degreed and non-degreed engineering resources (mechanical, electrical, civil, environmental, controls, and operation/maintenance) to manage construction and projects of all sizes from inception to completion. Although we are extremely flexible with low overhead costs we have the technical resources, capabilities, experience, and manpower to manage even massive projects.

A recently completed project that demonstrates WPE’s overall capabilities in Construction Oversight Management is the Four Corners Power Plant SCR Project. This facility, located in Farmington, NM, is part of Arizona Public Service (APS). This was a $600 million project entailing modifications of two 800 MW coal units. This project kicked off in 2015 and was successfully completed in July of 2018 through the excellent performance by on-site WPE staff.

This APS project demonstrates WPE’s ability to form project teams in collaboration with the Owners and to effectively manage and monitor a major construction project to successful completion.

The electric power industry has a history of being vertically integrated and self-reliant. However, in recent years many utilities and power producers have been forced to reduce staff and cut expenses. The resulting shortage of technical resources has led these entities to contract with design engineering companies to supply power plant engineering services.

This new paradigm requires that design engineering companies staff subject matter experts who can deliver experienced power plant oversight — which they often do not. WPE has both the expertise and hands-on power

plant experience necessary to perform every engineering function in a power plant environment. We will not train junior engineers on our client’s budget nor will we assign engineers from other industries with no power experience (no matter how talented) to our client’s power projects. Our team delivers efficient, effective and timely engineering solutions to requisite power plant needs.

As with power plant engineering, WPE is a successful O&M provider with a strong background in providing O&M services to existing and new conventional and renewable generation projects. Our experience in the O&M arena ranges from addressing the challenges of reduced O&M budgets for older, coal fired power plants to defining multi-task O&M projects for natural gas and renewable projects. WPE has the experience and capacity to staff and lead cost effective and efficient O&M activities. We perform budget analysis, define project scope and requirements, and then function effectively within those defined parameters to finish tasks. We collaborate with the Owner’s team, adapt to project requirements and manage the utilization of contract services to minimize operational costs and complete O&M projects on-time and on-budget.

WPE assists production sites, mining sites and other industrial load sites with solutions that reduce the cost of electricity. Initially, we analyze the factors driving the client’s current cost of electricity. We then evaluate available substitutes utilizing a proprietary WPE Micro- Grid calculator using actual costs for various fuel and power alternatives and propose a solution that balances the client’s needs for reliability, resiliency, quality and cost.