CS ENERGY STREAMLINES MANAGEMENT OF MAJOR ENERGY PROJECTS WITH INEIGHT SOLUTIONS
Gaining control, coordination, consistency, and clarity by replacing disparate solutions with a single, highly integrated suite of cloud-based tools
To manage major new greenfield projects in its future energy division, Australian company CS Energy needed higher-quality information. By replacing manual, spreadsheet-based processes with unified InEight solutions, the company streamlined information flows, enhanced consistency, and improved accuracy, both internally and with external partners. With InEight, CS Energy has started its digital-first journey, and anticipates significant cost efficiencies.
CS ENERGY AT A GLANCE
LOCATION:
Queensland, Australia
INDUSTRY
Energy and Power
EMPLOYEES
740+
- Portfolio includes thermal power stations, solar and wind energy, renewable hydrogen, and firming and storage.
- 700MW pipeline of wind projects in Central Queensland.
- Construction underway on the Kogan Renewable Hydrogen Demonstration Plant.
- $200,000+ in community sponsorships and donations in regions CS Energy operates.
- 28% Women in leadership.
INEIGHT PRODUCTS
InEight Document
InEight Schedule
InEight Control
InEight Contract
InEight Change
InEight Completions
InEight Model
InEight Plan
SOLUTION BENEFITS:
Enhances the consistency and accuracy of information for all stakeholders.
Provides real-time updates and a full audit trail both inside and outside of the organization.
Empowers CS Energy to stay in control of complex projects.
MANAGING MAJOR NEW INVESTMENTS
Based in Queensland, Australia, CS Energy provides customized energy solutions to some of the state’s biggest industries and employers. The company also operates a joint venture with Alinta Energy to provide electricity to more than 214,000 residential and small commercial customers in South-East Queensland. CS Energy’s generation and storage portfolio includes thermal power stations, solar and wind energy, renewable hydrogen, grid-scale batteries, and pumped hydro. As CS Energy continues to evolve and diversify, it’s making major investments in new energy technologies. The company is currently working on four greenfield capital projects – one in final commissioning stages, two that are partway through construction, and one at the design stage — with a total value of AUD 1.4 billion (USD 930 million).
“The two key advantages with InEight are that it’s a single suite of tools that all work together consistently, and that I can get anybody from my extended project team to be part of any project..”
- Wes Horwood, Head of Future Energy Projects, CS Energy
To manage the projects, CS Energy had been relying on SAP solutions with Microsoft Project, Outlook, and Excel. Manual data entry created the risk of human error in formulas, and multiple file copies resulted in different figures, dates, and conclusions. Wes Horwood, Head of Future Energy Projects at CS Energy, says: “There’s a misperception that you can manage just about everything in Outlook and Excel. For these big new energy projects, we wanted to bring it all together in a much more controlled, coordinated, consistent, single-source-of-truth approach to project delivery.”
CS Energy joint venture with Alinta Energy provides electricity to more than 214,000 residential and small commercial customers
CS Energy is currently working on four greenfield capital projects with a total value of AUD $1.4 billion
CHOOSING A TIGHTLY INTEGRATED SOLUTION
Jenny Heit, Senior Project Controls for Renewable Energy Projects at CS Energy, says: “Instead of choosing a variety of providers and doing our own integration to make the systems work together, we chose InEight as a complete packaged solution to cover all requirements.” CS Energy is using eight solutions from the InEight integrated platform to manage its project portfolio: Document, Schedule, Control, Contract, Change, Completions, Model, and Plan. Wes Horwood says: “The two key advantages with InEight are that it’s a single suite of tools that all work together consistently, and that I can get anybody from my extended project team to be part of any project. I’m not constrained by the physical boundaries of my organization, and I can work very dynamically. InEight gives me a lot more flexibility and communication across systems.”
BOOSTING CONSISTENCY AND CLARITY
With InEight acting as the single source of accurate, real-time information on projects, CS Energy and its construction partners can work more efficiently and confidently. Document controllers can manage workflows and processes in full coordination with inputs and outputs from external vendors. The same work breakdown structures can be applied across all modules for assurance of consistency. “InEight allows for greater clarity of forecasting, schedule risk management, change management, and overall management of contracts across many projects,” says Jenny Heit. “We can see up-to-date information in real time, using Power BI dashboards to report to key stakeholders while keeping tight controls on system use.”
“InEight allows for greater clarity of forecasting, schedule risk management, change management, and overall management of contracts across many projects.”
- Jenny Heit, Senior Project Controls Renewable Energy Projects, CS Energy
STAYING ON TOP OF COMPLEXITY
All external vendors have access to InEight Document, where they can review and manage change requests and defect reports. Stakeholders can use the system to ensure that the appropriate people have reviewed the relevant documents, and to follow up on defects and outstanding RFIs. Wes Horwood says: “Even relatively small projects depend on huge amounts of information. We’re working on a 200 MWh battery project that’s about 60 meters by 40 meters, and that alone has 3,691 associated documents. There are a lot of subtle complexities you need to stay on top of during and after the project, to ensure success. The ability to have everyone working off the same baseline at every stage all the way through is vital, because it’s so easy to get out of kilter. InEight gives us a clear audit trail and traceability all down the track.”
EMBRACING A DIGITAL-FIRST CULTURE
Change management was an important consideration during the adoption of InEight at CS Energy. People who were accustomed to the flexibility of creating their own spreadsheets had to adapt to working in a uniform way in InEight. As Wes Horwood explains: “When you’re using Excel and Outlook, it’s quick, it's easy, it's done. But the problem is that your Excel sheet doesn’t look the same as my sheet, which is different again from the other fellow’s sheet. We now have the mantra: ‘If it's not in InEight, it doesn’t exist.’ I can look at dashboards on my iPad and it’s the same information that everybody else is looking at – that's really helpful.”
“Going digital can unlock between 5 and 15% cost savings, and InEight forms an essential part of our business transformation strategy.”
- Wes Horwood, Head of Future Energy Projects, CS Energy
The InEight solutions at CS Energy form part of a wider business transformation journey that includes 3D digital models, which will improve the ability to visualize projects in new ways. CS Energy is actively upskilling its own workforce to transition to a digital engineering approach, moving from Building Information Modeling (BIM) level zero to level two for the current greenfield projects. InEight will play a significant role in maximizing the benefits of streamlined workflows. “We want to work smarter, not harder,” concludes Wes Horwood. “After we move to BIM level two, we may go down the path of building digital twins of our energy assets. Global research suggests that going digital can unlock between 5 and 15% cost savings, and InEight forms an essential part of our business transformation strategy to benefit from those savings.”
ABOUT INEIGHT
InEight is a leader in construction project controls software, empowering over 850 companies taking on challenging projects in industries including construction and engineering; transportation infrastructure; mining; water; power and renewables; and oil, gas and chemical. Uniquely suited to capital construction and other complex work, our integrated, modular software manages projects worth over $1 trillion globally, taking control of project information management, costs, schedules, contracts, and construction operations, and delivering insights with advanced analytics and AI. InEight's solutions adapt and scale to meet the dynamic needs of modern construction, driving operational excellence and successful project outcomes. For more information, follow InEight on LinkedIn or visit InEight.com. © 2026 InEight, Inc. All Rights Reserved