Independent Technical Coordination in Geothermal Power Plant Projects: A Risk Management Guide for Investors
Introduction
On paper, a geothermal power plant (GPP) project looks like a single investment. On the ground, it is delivered by many independent parties working in parallel: geologists and drilling contractors on the resource side, the construction/EPC contractor on site, turbine, generator and heat-exchanger suppliers on the equipment side, permitting and regulatory tracking running in the background, and financing and investor reporting behind all of it. Each party follows its own contract, its own schedule and its own technical priorities — which raises a real question for the project owner: who is tracking whether all these pieces stay technically aligned with each other?
That question holds even in the most technically advanced corners of the industry. A comprehensive academic review of machine learning (ML) applications in geothermal energy — a research area that has grown rapidly in recent years — published a notable caveat: most of the studies they examined had not been sufficiently validated under real field conditions, were prone to overfitting on small datasets, and “there is still a clear gap between these studies and actual engineering deployment” [1]. Whatever the method — an advanced software model or a standard engineering calculation — independent field verification remains an indispensable step for project reliability. That is precisely the starting point of AVS Energy's Owner's Engineer service.
Where do technical interfaces break down in a GPP project?
In geothermal projects, risk typically doesn't originate from a single party's mistake — it originates at the interfaces between parties:
Resource to design: Aligning drilling/reservoir data with plant design capacity (turbine selection, ORC/flash configuration) correctly and early.
Design to construction: Making sure engineering specifications are implemented on site, across different subcontractors, exactly as designed.
Equipment procurement to site schedule: Keeping turbine, generator and auxiliary equipment delivery timelines synchronized with the construction program.
Construction to testing/commissioning: Defining clear, agreed-upon criteria upfront for the transition from mechanical completion to commissioning.
Each of these interfaces may sit under a different party's contractual responsibility. For the project owner, the risk comes from the fact that no single party is contractually responsible for monitoring the interfaces as a whole.
What does independent technical coordination (Owner's Engineer) concretely change?
In AVS Energy's Owner's Engineer service, this role is structured to be independent of any contractor or equipment supplier on the project, representing only the project owner's interest. In practice, this means:
Tracking design specifications — independent review of engineering documents against accepted technical standards and project requirements.
Monitoring construction milestones — independent reporting of site progress against schedule and technical criteria, catching deviations early.
Managing technical interfaces — following up, on the owner's behalf, on the issues that fall “between” different engineering/contractor teams and that no single party naturally owns.
Coordinating testing and commissioning — independently tracking the process from mechanical completion through to operational handover, against agreed technical acceptance criteria.
A concrete example of this approach: AVS Energy served as technical coordinator, from planning through commissioning, on HEZ Enerji A.Ş.'s 24 MW Moralı Geothermal Power Plant project in Aydın, Türkiye [2]. End-to-end coordination like this provides a holistic view that no single contractor can offer — because no EPC contractor or equipment supplier is contractually obligated to monitor risks outside its own scope.
Why does independence matter?
An EPC contractor or equipment supplier reviewing its own work carries an inherent conflict of interest. That is exactly where the value of independent technical coordination comes from: a party with no commercial ties to any contractor or supplier can focus solely on the project's technical and schedule success. AVS Energy's founding team's hands-on experience in the construction and commissioning of 7 ORC power plants with a combined installed capacity of 137.5 MW [3] turns this independence from an abstract principle into concrete field experience.
Conclusion
In geothermal power plant projects, the most costly mistakes usually don't come from a single party's shortfall — they come from interfaces between parties that no one is monitoring as a whole. Independent technical coordination gives the project owner a technical set of eyes with no commercial ties to any contractor or supplier, representing only the owner's interest. Think of it as a safety net built in at the planning stage: problems get caught at the interfaces, before they grow.
Discuss your geothermal power plant project's technical coordination needs with AVS Energy.
Get in touch to run the design, construction and commissioning phases of your ongoing project with more control.
Helpful — not required — information to have ready: your project's current phase, plant capacity, current contractor/supplier structure, and the scope of advisory support you need.
FAQ
What's the difference between an Owner's Engineer and an EPC contractor?
The EPC contractor is contracted to build the plant. The Owner's Engineer, independent of the contractor, represents the project owner's technical interests and monitors the contractor's work on the owner's behalf.
At what project stage can this service start?
It can cover the full project lifecycle, from planning and design through commissioning, or selected phases based on the investor's needs.
Does this make sense for smaller geothermal projects too?
Interface risk exists regardless of project scale; the scope of the service is sized to the project.
Sources
[1] Zhang, Q.; Gou, L.; Xu, L. “Machine Learning for Geothermal Energy Systems: Prediction, Optimization, and Physics-Informed Hybrid Methods.” Energies 2026, 19, 3193. https://doi.org/10.3390/en19133193 (third-party, peer-reviewed academic review — not AVS Energy's own work; used only as an analogy for the importance of independent verification)
[2] AVS Energy project experience — HEZ Enerji A.Ş., Moralı Geothermal Power Plant (24 MW), Aydın, Türkiye. Source: AVS Energy corporate project records / persona document.
[3] AVS Energy founding team experience — construction/commissioning of 7 ORC power plants, 137.5 MW combined installed capacity. Source: AVS Energy corporate project records / CV.
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