Improving Design Performance by Alliance between Contractors and Designers in International Hydropower EPC Projects from the Perspective of Chinese Construction Companies

Analytical Framework for Understanding the Differences between Technical Standards Originating from Various Regions to Improve International Hydropower Project Delivery

The international hydropower construction market is continuously growing during the past decade. The existing literature points out that contractors are facing ongoing difficulties in achieving the objectives of developing international hydropower projects, which largely arise from the misunderstanding and poor use of international technical standards. However, there is a lack of a coherent framework to help systematically analyze the differences between technical standards originating from various regions. This study establishes an analytical framework that incorporates the essential factors of technical standards, namely philosophy of standards, logical structure, completeness of standards, calculation method, equipment and material requirements, test method, construction method, and application conditions of standards, and demonstrates their relationships from a holistic perspective. With support of the data collected from Chinese contractors, the results revealed the application status of various technical standards and their differences. Hierarchical cluster analysis demonstrates that unfamiliarity with the differences between domestic and international technical standards can cause multiple problems in international hydropower project delivery, concerning applying international standards, integrated project management, design, procurement, and construction, which have broad theoretical and practical implications. The outcomes of this study can not only help contractors improve their capabilities of applying international standards for achieving superior international hydropower project performance, but also facilitate mutual recognition of the standards from various regions, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of global resources such as expertise, technologies, methods, and products.

Analysis of Contracts to Build Energy Infrastructures to Optimize the OPEX

The employer (owner) of the project wants to obtain the maximum profit for the money invested and the consultant (contractor) will try to give less for that money. The regulation of their relationship is based on the contractual agreement, which in the energy sector is mainly based on the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) model. The objective of this work was to evaluate which factors should be included in the drafting of contracts, to minimize problems between the parties, and thus minimize execution costs and optimize operation and maintenance costs. Information and data on the integration of operability and maintainability criteria in contracts for 158 projects, with a total contract value of close to €40,000M, were analyzed. Several of those projects corresponded to wind, solar, and hydroelectric plants. The information collected the perception of the agents involved, and was classified according to the experience of the agents consulted in the operation and maintenance areas. Finally, the proposed criteria were prioritized. In general, the owner is willing to introduce these criteria in his contracts if they reduce the operation and maintenance cost by around 1–5%, while the contractor is interested in increasing his probability to be selected by 1–3%.

Renewable Energy and Sustainability from the Supply Side: A Critical Review and Analysis

This article provides a critical review of the literature on the relationship between renewable energies and sustainability considering the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. First, a bibliometric tool is used and then a more in-depth analysis of selected literature is performed, focusing on the type of renewable energy analyzed and the level of development of countries, the dimension of sustainability focused on and the country’s development level, and the type of renewable energies focused on and the dimension of sustainability analyzed. It represents a milestone in the topic giving insights on the state of the art of the research on this research area, enhancing empirical evidence on the kind of relationships and developing a discussion on how closely aligned the political and institutional discourses are with the research concerns. We conclude that, while studies on lower-income countries focus on lower-rung energies, studies on higher-income countries focus on the study of more diversified sources. Moreover, wind–solar energy is the most reported in the articles concerned with environmental sustainability. Our main recommendation is to further investigate the implementation of modern renewable energies in developing countries, to help those countries to climb the energy ladder toward cleaner energy supply.

Social Sustainability: Satisfying Owners and Communities by Multilevel Strategies of Contractors

In sustainable construction/production, the social dimension regarding owner and community satisfaction has received the least focus. To promote social sustainability, the multilevel strategies of contractors should be developed for owner and community satisfaction. However, a literature review shows that there are few studies on how multilevel strategies influence such satisfaction. Hence, this study aimed to analyze such influences. A survey was conducted to gather data from the Thai construction industry, and these data were then analyzed by a structural equation model (SEM). The results, for the first time, highlight that corporate strategy influences business strategy (direct influence = 0.98), which in turn influences functional strategy (direct influence = 0.93). Additionally, only functional strategy influences owner (direct influence = 0.84) and community satisfaction (direct influence = 0.66). Furthermore, parenting, cooperation, and equipment/machinery substrategies obtain the highest weights within the management levels of corporation, business, and function (regression weights = 0.49, 0.48, and 0.55), respectively. The work productivity and site organization indicators have the largest weights for owner and community satisfaction (regression weights = 0.47 and 0.57), respectively. The findings provide a guideline that helps contractors allocate their available resources to substrategies according to their regression weights, enhancing owner and community satisfaction.

Sustainable Energy Development under Climate Change

The world faces unprecedented threats from climate change and increasing variability, which severely impacts human society and the natural environment. To reduce future climate change and ensure our economies can grow in a sustainable way, sustainable energy development is considered to be an effective approach. In this context, sustainable energy development involves augmenting our energy supplies and managing demands in a fashion that societal energy needs are met with a minimal effect on greenhouse gas emissions and a nominal resultant contribution to future climate change. In this Special Issue, research papers focus on the role of sustainable energy development (while addressing important dimensions of sustainability), which mandates an inter-disciplinary perspective in all articles. We collected 11 such papers that have analyzed a broad array of topics related to bioenergy, wind power, industrial innovation, and climate change mitigation. These papers show the varied application of renewable energy and climate change energy responses, while providing meaningful decision-making information and policy implications.