BOE Report

Tools Missing from the Project Toolbox

Tools Missing from the Project Toolbox

Why capital projects continue to fail without the right resources (tools) on hand.

Capital projects (projects) too often lack the full toolbox required for delivery as planned. The UNEZA report recommendations – long-term planning, programmatic approaches, and skills development – are necessary but leave gaps in communication, knowledge transfer, and supplier quality surveillance (SQS). KT Project provides missing, cost-effective tools – practical e-books, guidelines, and SQS frameworks – that ensure teams tighten every bolt to deliver projects on budget and on time.

1 – Introduction

Poor project performance is the industry norm, with most projects experiencing cost and schedule overruns. The issue is not that organizations lack tools altogether, but that they are missing critical ones (Figure 2).

Based on more than 500 large-scale infrastructure projects globally in 2022, nearly 80% ran over budget and more than 50% were delayed (McKinsey, 2023). These statistics highlight persistent, costly challenges that remain unresolved.

Projects of all sizes and across all sectors face similar hurdles with planning, supply chains, and workforce management. Yet after countless projects and decades of effort world-wide, the performance record remains embarrassingly and stubbornly poor.

2 – Project Challenges: Cascade Power

Project challenges extend well beyond electricity grids and apply across energy, industrial, mining, petrochemical, pipeline, power, and other capital-intensive sectors.

For example, the Cascade Power Project (Figure 1), constructed between 2020 and 2024, is Alberta’s largest combined-cycle power plant. It produces 900 MW to power 900,000 homes[1] or about half of Alberta’s homes[2]. While not all its challenges were made public, constructing such a facility through four Alberta winters while meeting strict regulatory requirements illustrates the daunting nature of such an undertaking.

These six Cascade Power Project problems are typical for a large project:

  1. Regulatory and permitting delays
  • Approvals moved slower than expected, with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) taking time to process applications and First Nations raising concerns during the review, which slowed early progress[3].
  1. Schedule delays
  • The project’s completion estimate was revised (e.g., a November 2022 update moved an expected completion from September 2023 to December 2023), showing a schedule slippage[4].
  1. Connection and commissioning timing and market impact
  • Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) listed the project’s two 450 MW assets as new connections effective August 12, 2023, indicating staged commissioning and later integration into the grid, which is consistent with the staggered delivery and commissioning issues[5].
  1. Environmental and emissions regulatory work
  • Cascade sought an amendment related to NOx emission limits under its Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act approval, a regulatory compliance issue that required regulator engagement[6].
  1. Indigenous and community engagement issues
  • First Nations’ concerns about early approvals demonstrated stakeholder and permitting friction[7].
  1. Large-project complexities
  • The project required large-scale financing with multi-party development and EPC contracts, illustrating financing, procurement, and supply-chain complexities with construction scale [8].

When a project has a green light to proceed, with all necessary agreements, approvals, financing, and other front-end details in place, the visible work begins – detailed engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC).

After a project is sanctioned with a budget and schedule, unforeseen challenges can have the effect of moving the goalposts farther away, making success harder to achieve. Despite engaging competent service providers and suppliers, employing experienced personnel and using established procedures, budget and schedule overruns are commonplace.

So why do projects so often seem like work is attempted without the correct level, tape measure, or wrench? Because teams may have some, but not all the tools needed – and the missing tools inevitably lead to costly mistakes, delays, inefficiencies, and risk. Every bolt needs to be tightened before startup.

3 – Project Challenges: Muskrat Falls Generating Station

The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project is another example of how the multiple risk factors described in the previous section can combine to challenge even a well-planned project[9][10][11][12][13]. From regulatory hurdles and schedule slippages to commissioning setbacks and environmental issues, the following table categorizes the key challenges that shaped that project’s outcomes.

4 – Industry Record of Failure

Decades of major project experience reveal a poor record: nearly 80% exceed budgets and more than 50% run behind schedule. These failures occur because key tools are missing from the project toolbox.

A tradesperson may have a hammer and saw, but without the required tape measure, progress is inaccurate and slow, and mistakes multiply. Sometimes, the work must stop. Similarly, project teams may have basic frameworks or instructions and experienced personnel, but lack resources for communication, knowledge transfer, and SQS.

Organizations and professionals continue to develop their capabilities, yet results remain unsatisfactory. It is essential to fill the project toolbox with all the right tools before starting work. An incomplete toolbox results in incomplete or shoddy work, and budget overruns.

Related: Cake, Craps, and Quality – How to avoid gambling with project success

5 – The UNEZA Report and Recommendations

The Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA) report (Figure 2), Delivering Large-scale Grid Infrastructure Projects[14], describes how projects regularly face unexpected issues, including cost overruns and delays, throughout planning, financing, design, construction, and commissioning phases.

The UNEZA report identifies key recommendations to improve project outcomes. It points to solutions with innovative financing, long‑term planning, skills development, and stakeholder engagement, all useful tools in the project success toolbox.

Are these tools sufficient? The industry’s record suggests not (sections 2 to 4). A toolbox missing a wrench can leave the work unfinished; the untightened bolts introduce hidden risk. Acquiring the missing wrench immediately can be costly. Remember the last time you or your mechanic changed the oil in your car? If the all the correct tools are not on hand, the work stops and must be rescheduled until the correct tools are available. Inefficient and costly. And avoidable.

The projects needed to expand, modernize, and refurbish our grids and industrial facilities face accelerating demands and rising complexity, while existing infrastructure ages. The UNEZA report rightly recommends the need for:

  • A skilled workforce with reskilling and upskilling to address widening gaps;
  • Coordinated, forward-looking, and long-term planning with continuous stakeholder engagement using a programmatic rather than a project-by-project approach; and,
  • Innovative business models to avoid or reduce impacts to project critical paths.

These are valuable tools but alone are inadequate. The project toolbox is incomplete, so projects continue to fail when they reach for any missing tool.

6 – Here are the Missing Tools

The incomplete UNEZA framework is the inadequately stocked toolbox (Section 5). The industry’s record of failure are the results of an inadequately stocked toolbox (sections 2 to 4). Three Knowledge Transfer Project (KT Project) e-books are the missing tools, particularly for the EPC phase:

7 – Conclusion

Projects cannot succeed when the toolbox is missing critical tools. With nearly 80% of projects overrunning budgets and more than 50% delayed, organizations must ensure they have a complete set of appropriate tools before they start work.

The most effective improvements are not always difficult-to-implement, expensive, or large. Many are low-hanging fruit, and easily applied if the right tool is on hand, such as:

  1. Planning to succeed;
  2. Communicating effectively; and,
  3. Ensuring deliverables are complete, correct, and on time.

Every project is at risk for overruns, and the larger the project, the greater the cost of missing tools. The KT Project provides the additional resources needed for the EPC phase, to eliminate gaps, tighten every bolt, and ensure projects track and deliver successfully.

For additional information about how these critical tools can drive your project success:

8 – Figures

  1. Todayville. The Cascade Power Project. https://i1.wp.com/www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tvrd-cec-cascade-power-kinetcor-energy-alberta-image-2024-02-26.jpg
  2. Rosner, Derek. Where is My Measuring Tape? Created using ChatGPT. October 2025
  3. Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZO). Delivering Large-scale Grid Infrastructure, cover sheet. https://utilitiesfornetzero.org/-/media/UNEZA/Files/Publications/UNEZA_PAR_Delivering_grid_infrastructure_2025.pdf

9 – References

  1. Alberta Major Projects Map. Cascade Power Project. from https://majorprojects.alberta.ca/details/Cascade-Power-Project/3710
  2. Statistics Canada. (2022). 2021 Census Profile, Alberta [Province]. Ottawa: Government of Canada. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm
  3. Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZO). Delivering Large-scale Grid Infrastructure Projects. https://utilitiesfornetzero.org/-/media/UNEZA/Files/Publications/UNEZA_PAR_Delivering_grid_infrastructure_2025.pdf
  4. Global Energy Monitor. Cascade Power Project (Alberta, Canada). Global Energy Monitor+1. https://www.gem.wiki/Cascade_Power_Project.
  5. Alberta Market Surveillance Administrator (MSA). Q4 2022 Quarterly Report. November 2022. ca. https://www.albertamsa.ca/assets/Documents/Q4-2022-Quarterly-Report.pdf
  6. Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO). New Connections Report. Effective August 12, 2023. AESO. https://www.aeso.ca (project connection listings)
  7. Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC). Decision 28923-D01-2025 Cascade Power Project Amendment Approval. April 14, 2025. prd-api-efiling20.auc.ab.ca. https://prd-api-efiling20.auc.ab.ca/Anonymous/DownloadPublicDocumentAsync/833361
  8. Global Energy Monitor. Cascade Power Project (Alberta, Canada). Global Energy Monitor+1. https://www.gem.wiki/Cascade_Power_Project
  9. Global News. Audit finds Muskrat Falls cost overruns became obvious soon after megaproject got underway. https://globalnews.ca/news/4972628/muskrat-falls-costs/
  10. APTN News. Inquiry finds environment of ‘mistrust’ after lack of Indigenous consultations for Muskrat Falls project. https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/inquiry-finds-environment-of-mistrust-after-lack-of-indigenous-consultations-for-muskrat-falls-project/
  11. Global News. As megaproject nears completion, methylmercury concerns at Muskrat Falls linger. https://globalnews.ca/news/5702492/as-megaproject-nears-completion-methylmercury-concerns-at-muskrat-falls-linger/
  12. Fraser Institute. Muskrat Falls project illustrates the problem of public ownership of large-scale projects. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/muskrat-falls-project-illustrates-problem-public-ownership-large-scale-projects
  13. Commission of Inquiry Respecting the Muskrat Falls Project. Final Report. https://www.gov.nl.ca/muskratfalls/
  14. Business Wire. Kinetrex Energy, OPTrust, Axium Infrastructure and DIF Capital Partners Announce $1.5 Billion Financing for Cascade Power Project. August 17, 2020. Business Wire+1. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200817005267/en
  15. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. Oil Sands Manufacturing. https://cme-mec.ca/
  16. Christensen, Roy O. Glossary of Common Industry and Project Terminology. https://ktproject.ca/purchase/
  17. American Petroleum Institute (API). API RP 588, Recommended Practice for Source Inspection and Quality Surveillance of Fixed Equipment. https://www.api.org/products-and-services/standards/important-standards-announcements/65-3

10 – About the Author

Roy O. Christensen founded the KT Project to save organizations significant money and time by providing key resources to leverage expert knowledge transfer for successful project execution.

Other articles by Roy about career and project success are available here.

10.1 – Contact

Roy O. Christensen

Email: hello@ktproject.ca

Telephone:  +1 403 703-2686