Cow power: APM Award winner Shell and its innovative renewable energy project

It must be a fascinating time to be a project manager at an energy group, where cutting-edge ventures are leading the world away from fossil fuels towards clean energy.

One such initiative, Shell’s Bovarius renewable natural gas project, uses dairy manure as a sustainable fuel. It won APM’s Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Project of the Year Award at the 2024 APM Project Management Awards.

Bovarius is supplied by a dairy near Wendell, Idaho. Here, manure from 17,000 milking cows is collected and fed into Shell’s asset, where it’s mixed in two large concrete digester tanks. Each holds nearly 19 million litres of manure – equivalent to 15 Olympic swimming pools in total volume.

As the microorganisms in the manure break down the waste, gas is produced, captured, and cleaned of its sulphur and CO₂. The resultant biomethane is compressed and sold into a natural gas pipeline. Bovarius has capacity to deliver 400,000 metric million British thermal units of renewable natural gas every year. The byproduct is used back at the dairy, as fibre to bed the cows and for fertiliser.

As well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy operations, the renewable natural gas can be used in haulage trucks instead of diesel – replacing around 30 million litres a year.

Project feedback loops

Project Manager Jennifer Yao says she’d never imagined her work would involve analysing the manure properties of milking cows. Yet she finds the innovative, purpose-fuelled task incredibly fulfilling – and a chance to apply her skills in a flexible, forward-thinking way.

“The beauty of project management is that basic principles apply across all sectors,” says Yao, who highlights the adaptability and rapid learning that drives her team’s approach. “We’ve developed systems with quick feedback loops to incorporate lessons from other projects in our portfolio, ensuring continuous improvement and innovation.

“As the energy transition progresses, project professionals will need to learn and adapt quickly, as these projects often involve novelty – whether novel technologies, new operating regions, new contractors or new suppliers. Implementing agile methodologies has been crucial for us, enabling fast adaptation and more effective project management.”

Strong partnerships

The Bovarius journey began in 2017. The first task was to establish relationships with local farmers, associations and governments in rural areas where the company hadn’t previously operated. While the concepts of environmental conservation and resource management were not new to the farmers, the nature of these conversations was.

“These projects highlight the strengths of both parties, focusing on resource circularity and energy production,” says Yao. “The farmers appreciated the opportunity to innovate and enhance their sustainability efforts with the support of a major energy company.

“By maintaining open communication and mutual respect, we were able to build trust and foster strong partnerships. This approach ensured that all stakeholders felt valued and heard, facilitating smoother collaboration and more successful project outcomes.”

Portfolio-first culture

One major challenge for Yao lay in having to manage aggressive engineering and construction schedules where projects overlapped with one another. A collaborative internal culture proved key here. The use of portfolio roles for key positions meant they could transfer learnings from project to project in real time.

Yao also set a Gold Medal Target (GMT) – a challenging yet achievable goal for the team – and created a leadership team to help deliver it. They had decision authority and represented all key parties, including project, commercial, business and operations. Those decision-makers were kept in the loop through daily meetings with the full working team to identity issues, which were resolved in GMT team meetings soon after.

“It requires humility, vulnerability and a ‘portfolio first’ attitude to share project ‘mistakes’ on a regular basis,” she says of the working styles they encouraged.

APM judges impressed

Yao’s team completed the Bovarius project ahead of schedule, achieving first gas 20 days early. The project came in under budget, exceeded production plans and reported excellent safety. And it showed the way to a potentially viable future business model and fuel source. It was, says Yao, “an incredible achievement for the entire portfolio team”.

The scale of that achievement certainly struck a chord with the APM Project Management Awards judges, who called the initiative a “fascinating environmental project” and highlighted the ability of Shell’s project team to employ their core skills in this entirely new environment.

“Winning the APM award is the culmination of years of dedication, resilience and grit from the many people supporting Shell’s renewable natural gas business,” says Yao. “I’m incredibly proud to work alongside them.”