Prospering from greening business

We provide expert support to organisations around the world so that they can operate more sustainably. Our insights and analysis enable clients to progress renewable and low carbon energy, foster technology and innovation, and develop and navigate environmental policy and regulations to anticipate future business and technology trends.

Reducing SolarReserve’s heliostat costs by 20%

SolarReserve is a US-based renewable energy company that develops large-scale concentrated solar power projects for sites of 15,000 and 20,000 heliostats. These large mirrors reflect sunlight from more than one million square metres of glass, ultimately generating the energy to drive a turbine.

SolarReserve was at the early prototype stage in its heliostat development and needed to improve its design to achieve commercial, high-volume production at a competitive cost, and to establish the entire supply chain for its projects.

Using PA’s expertise in developing products for high-volume production, we provided advice on the heliostat design and specification. We also developed a concept design for the fabrication and assembly processes, equipment and required facilities, maintaining a constant focus on the critical issue of cost. Our procurement experts identified a range of assembly partners and critical component suppliers and facilitated the tender process to help SolarReserve and its technology partners identify and agree the right suppliers.

As a result, the PA team was able to help the company achieve a 20% cost avoidance per heliostat field.

Securing cost savings for Magna Steyr

Magna Steyr is a leading global supplier of engineering services and components for vehicle producers. The company had developed a lithium-ion battery to be used in buses and commercial vehicles but found the costs were higher than the target price agreed with the customer.

So they asked PA’s experts to help them reduce costs significantly from across the manufacturing process. We carried out a detailed analysis of the battery’s component parts and their associated cost. We then identified where parts could be sourced at a lower price, and worked with Magna Steyr to develop 40 different technical changes that could realise cost reductions.

Finally, we negotiated with Magna Steyr’s suppliers to ensure the projected cost savings could be reached in practice. As a result of the work, Magna Steyr met its ambitious cost savings target.

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