CASE STUDY
Preparing one of the world’s largest chemical companies to enter renewables sector through developing a robust R&D strategy
The Challenge
Our client is one of the world’s largest chemical producers. Government and shareholder pressure created an emphasis on sustainability in energy use and feedstock sourcing. An additional corporate objective was to build significant IP to expand their business into the renewables sector.
Our goal was to assist them to develop a renewable R&D portfolio which was aligned to the new corporate strategy and aligned to the largest future opportunities in Asian countries.
Result highlight
$9mm
Immediate R&D investment established
20
Senior stakeholders engaged
13
Renewable investment opportunities assessed
"We have worked with WSS Energy to describe and qualify our research objectives in the past. This work built on previous experience to determine how [our organisation] fits into the renewables landscape and how can we become a player. WSS Energy provided us with crucial support in defining a new corporate renewables strategy and successfully gained top-level endorsement. This project gave us huge confidence in the direction of this new journey"
Related Sectors
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Wind
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Solar
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Biomass
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Energy Storage Solutions
Related Consulting Services
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Technology & Market Landscape
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Technology Strategy
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Portfolio Review & Optimisation
Our approach
We gathered thought-leaders from the biomass, wind and solar industries to test a technology-based renewable energy industry segmentation developed by our project team.
From technology themes identified and through deep-dive targeted research, a number of renewable energy segments & specific areas well aligned with our client’s existing lines of business and expertise were established.
With internal stakeholders in Europe, America and Asia, a one-to-one stakeholder consultation programme was carried out, aiming to capture existing regional knowledge & effort and to further optimise the new portfolio & reflect the new corporate vision.
Key activities
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Renewable industry segmentation, designed to enable comparison with the client’s existing portfolio activity. This assisted in communicating cross-sector renewable opportunities and ensured stakeholders’ understanding of R&D options with a complete picture in mind.
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Deep-dive renewable market assessment, designed to prove specific market hypothesis looking at industry viability and sustainability, government support and stakeholder involvement. Used by our client to help validate the business case for entering the renewables sector.
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Stakeholder consultation, one-to-one meetings were conducted face-to-face and via teleconference with relevant individuals from three continents. Regional knowledge, development effort to date, and stakeholders’ inputs were all gathered.
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Business unit workshops designed to identify existing R&D and technology portfolios aligned with the renewable energy industry. Used to understand what client capabilities could be leveraged into a new centrally planned renewable R&D portfolio.
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Technology strategy draft, including technology charter, flagships to pursue, R&D priorities & rationales, high-level roadmap to build the desired portfolio, etc. Corporate workshops with top management team to present the result and gain feedback & support.
