Feasibility Studies

Is this project actually viable?

A feasibility study answers that question with evidence instead of optimism. It is the structured engineering and financial analysis that tests whether a proposed waste-to-energy or industrial project is technically sound and economically viable — before significant capital is committed to design, land, procurement or a technology vendor.

Organizations require a feasibility study because the decisions that follow it are expensive and hard to reverse. Lenders and investors need a defensible basis for funding; municipalities and government agencies need to justify public capital; boards need to know the numbers rest on measured data rather than a vendor's brochure. A study replaces assumption with analysis at the one stage where the answer can still change the outcome.

The right time to engage WES is early — once an idea or an initial assessment suggests a project may be worth pursuing, but before contracts, sites or technologies are locked in. A feasibility study is one of WES's core engineering services, and on the same project it typically precedes technology evaluation, project development and owner's engineering.

Start with an Assessment
Start with an Assessment

When a Feasibility Study Is Needed

A feasibility study earns its place at a specific moment — when a decision is about to become expensive and hard to reverse, and the evidence to make it well is not yet in hand. Typical triggers include:

  • Capital is about to be committed to design, land or a technology vendor.
  • Lenders or investors require independent due diligence before they will fund.
  • A municipality or government agency must justify the use of public capital.
  • Competing technologies or sites need to be compared on the same objective basis.
  • A vendor's proposal needs independent verification before a contract is signed.
  • Early numbers look attractive, but rest on assumptions rather than measured data.

Engaged at this stage, the study can still change the decision. Commissioned after contracts are signed, it can only document risk the owner already carries.

Engineering analysis for a feasibility study

Typical Deliverables

A feasibility study is scoped to the decision it must support. A typical study produces some or all of the following.

Technical Feasibility Report

A structured assessment of whether the project can be built and operated as intended, given the feedstock, site, performance targets and regulatory constraints.

Economic & Financial Model

A model of capital cost, operating cost, revenue or savings and return, so the investment can be judged on numbers rather than a headline figure.

Capital & Operating Cost Estimates

Order-of-magnitude estimates of the capital required to build and the ongoing cost to operate, developed from engineering basis rather than vendor pricing alone.

Site & Feedstock Assessment

Evaluation of the candidate site and of the waste or feedstock — quantity, composition, calorific value, moisture and seasonal variation — the inputs that decide what the plant can do.

Technology Screening Matrix

A side-by-side comparison of candidate technologies against the project's real requirements, so options are weighed on the same objective basis.

Risk Register

The technical, economic and regulatory risks that could undermine the project, identified while they can still be mitigated on paper.

Go / No-Go Recommendation

A clear, documented recommendation on whether — and how — to proceed, with the reasoning that supports it.

Typical Clients

WES conducts feasibility studies for the organizations that carry the risk of a capital decision.

Municipalities

Local governments deciding whether a waste-to-energy or diversion project is the right use of public capital, and needing an independent basis for that decision.

Government Agencies

National and regional agencies evaluating infrastructure and environmental programs, where a defensible technical and economic case is required before funding.

Private Developers

Developers structuring a project who need to confirm technical and economic viability before committing to a site, a technology or a financing round.

Investors & Lenders

Financial parties requiring independent due diligence on the engineering and the numbers before capital is deployed against a project.

Utilities

Power and infrastructure utilities assessing energy-recovery and generation options against their grid, offtake and operating requirements.

Industrial Companies

Industrial organizations evaluating on-site energy recovery, waste treatment or process investment where the decision turns on both engineering and economics.

Industries Served

WES applies feasibility analysis across the sectors where its engineering leadership has direct experience.

Waste-to-Energy

Conversion of municipal and industrial waste into energy — the core of WES's feasibility work.

Chemical

Process and petrochemical facilities, drawing on leadership experience carrying such plants to qualified operation.

Pharmaceutical

Regulated facilities where technical feasibility must account for validation and qualified operation.

Utilities

Power generation, energy recovery and grid-connected infrastructure.

Infrastructure

Public and industrial infrastructure projects requiring a technical and economic basis for investment.

Manufacturing

Industrial process and manufacturing facilities evaluating capital, energy or waste-treatment investment.

Water & Wastewater

Water, sanitation and wastewater infrastructure, an area of the team's long municipal experience.

How WES Adds Value

WES conducts feasibility studies as an independent engineer. It is an engineering and consulting firm — not a plant manufacturer and not an EPC contractor — and it does not sell or license any particular conversion technology. That independence is the whole point: the study's conclusion is not tied to the project going ahead, and its technology screening is not tied to any vendor's equipment.

The work is technology-neutral by design. Candidate technologies are tested against the client's actual feedstock, site, budget and regulatory context on engineering criteria, not marketing claims. Where the evidence supports the project, the study says so and shows why; where it does not, the study is free to recommend against it. WES's leadership has carried operating petrochemical and pharmaceutical facilities from mechanical completion through qualified operation — and the team includes a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) and a LEED Accredited Professional — so the analysis reflects what it takes for a facility to actually run, not just to look feasible on paper.

The product is independent engineering judgment. Technology is only a tool.

Independent feasibility analysis

Common Challenges

Feasibility studies fail projects — or rescue them — at three recurring points. This is where independent engineering earns its fee.

Optimistic feedstock assumptions

The fastest route to a failed project is a design built on an assumed or borrowed waste composition. Calorific value, moisture and contaminants decide how much energy the plant makes and what it costs to run. WES insists the numbers rest on a measured, seasonal characterization of the actual feedstock — not a figure taken from another city.

Vendor performance claims

Headline figures — throughput, efficiency, availability, emissions — are quoted under ideal conditions. WES tests each claim against the project's real feedstock and site: is the output net or gross? At what availability? On what feedstock? Guarantees that look strong often exclude the very conditions the plant will actually run in.

Costs that surface late

Capital and operating costs underestimated at concept stage resurface after commitments are made, when they are far harder to absorb. WES builds cost estimates from an engineering basis early, so the economic case reflects what the facility will really cost to build and to keep running.

Frequently Asked Questions

Straight engineering answers to the questions organizations ask before commissioning a feasibility study.

When should a feasibility study be performed?

A feasibility study belongs early — after an idea or an initial assessment has shown a project may be worth pursuing, but before any significant capital is committed to design, land, procurement or a technology vendor. The study exists to answer, on evidence, whether the project is technically sound and economically viable. Performed at that stage it can still change the decision; performed after contracts are signed it can only document risk that is already owned.

What is the difference between technical and economic feasibility?

Technical feasibility asks whether the project can be built and operated as intended: does the proposed technology match the actual feedstock, site and performance requirements, and can it meet the regulatory and environmental constraints. Economic feasibility asks whether it should be built: what it costs to build and operate, what revenue or savings it generates, and whether the financial return justifies the investment and its risk. A project can be technically possible and economically unviable, or economically attractive on paper but technically unworkable — a credible study tests both.

What information do you need from us to begin?

Whatever you have of: the estimated quantity and any composition or characterization data for the waste or feedstock; the objective (landfill diversion, energy, disposal, or a combination); a candidate site or its constraints; the local energy market or offtake context; the stage you are at; and rough budget and timeline. None of it is a prerequisite. Gaps in this information are themselves a finding, and closing the critical ones — for example a measured, seasonal feedstock characterization — is often the first task the study defines.

How long does a feasibility study take?

It depends on the scope, the technology under consideration and the quality of the data available at the start. A focused study on a well-defined project moves faster than one that must first characterize the feedstock, screen several technologies and build a financial model from limited data. WES scopes each study to the decision it has to support and agrees the timeline before starting, so the schedule reflects the actual work rather than a fixed template.

Can a feasibility study recommend against a project?

Yes — and a study that cannot is not worth commissioning. The purpose of a feasibility study is to reach an honest go/no-go recommendation, and a well-founded no-go is one of its most valuable outcomes: it prevents capital being committed to a project that would fail technically or economically. Because WES is an independent engineering firm and does not manufacture plants, sell a single technology or bid to build the facility, its recommendation is not tied to the project going ahead.

How does a feasibility study relate to an assessment and to owner's engineering?

They are stages on the same path. An assessment is the low-cost first step that frames the problem and tests whether an idea is worth investigating further. A feasibility study goes deeper: it develops the technical and economic case and delivers a go/no-go recommendation on a specific project. Owner's engineering is what follows a go decision — independent representation of the owner through technology selection, design review, procurement, construction and commissioning. WES can carry a project across all three stages or be engaged for any one of them.

Is WES independent of the technologies it evaluates?

Yes. WES is an independent engineering and consulting firm, not a plant manufacturer or EPC contractor, and it does not sell or license any particular conversion technology. A feasibility study screens candidate technologies — gasification, anaerobic digestion, refuse-derived fuel, mass burn and energy recovery — against the client's actual feedstock, site, budget and regulatory context, on engineering criteria rather than vendor claims. The product is independent engineering judgment; the technology is only a tool.

What does a feasibility study cost?

Cost depends on the scope: the number of technologies screened, the depth of the economic model, and how much feedstock and site data must be gathered before analysis can begin. Because those variables differ by project, WES scopes and prices each feasibility study individually after understanding what the study has to decide. Many clients begin with an assessment, which starts at $12,500 and frames the problem before a full study is scoped.

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