PMP® and Chartered Engineer. Planning and project controls for Solar PV, BESS and EPC. [email protected]LinkedIn
Chandrakanth KunkatlaPlanning · Project Controls · Project Management CV
Chandrakanth Kunkatla

Planning & project controls

Chandrakanth Kunkatla

Lead – Planning & Project Controls

Foreign Employee of the Year 2024, China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC)

PMP® and Chartered Engineer with 19+ years in project management, planning, scheduling and project controls across energy and construction. I lead planning and project controls for utility-scale Solar PV and battery storage, from the integrated master schedule to COD: about USD 1.5 billion of projects so far, most recently for the EPC contractor on ACWA Power and Masdar projects.

  • PMP®
  • Chartered Engineer (MIE)
  • M.Tech, Construction Technology & Management
  • Primavera P6
  • Power BI
Solar PV + BESS EPC: how the build is sequencedIllustrative, not a project schedule
Activity
M2M4M6M8M10M12M14M16M18M20
A1010Engineering & approvals
A1020Long-lead procurement
A1030Site enabling & piling
A1040Mounting structures
A1050PV module installation
A1060Cabling & inverter stations
A1070Substation & grid connection
A1080BESS installation
A1090Commissioning & energization
M1100COD
Data date
Site at the data date: built on the left, still to build on the right
Critical pathActivityTotal floatMilestoneData date
USD 1.5bnof Solar PV and BESS projects planned and controlled
2GW+utility-scale Solar PV planned and controlled
330MW/ 500 MWh BESS at COD a month ahead of schedule
6Solar PV and BESS projects at COD on or ahead of schedule
500+U.S. federal and military projects, USD 100K–10M each
19+years in project management, planning, scheduling and project controls

Projects I've planned and controlled

Every project from 2007 to today, most recent first: energy, U.S. federal construction, industrial and public infrastructure.

Apr 2026 – Present

Banka 315 MWac Solar PV

Neftchala, Azerbaijan. About USD 250M. Client: Masdar. EPC: CEEC (NWEPDI). Lenders: EBRD, ADB, AIIB.

Current project
  • Integrated master schedule in Primavera P6 (Level 2–4) tied to EPC contract milestones
  • DCMA 14-point checks before every submission; earned value, productivity and resource forecasts
  • TIA, EOT and weather-delay assessments; monthly reporting to client, lenders and owner's engineer

Nov 2023 – Feb 2026

Riverside 200 MW Solar PV + 330 MW / 500 MWh BESS

Tashkent, Uzbekistan. USD 533M. Client: ACWA Power. EPC: CEEC. Six international lenders incl. EBRD.

BESS a month early; PV a month ahead of EOT date
  • PV plant and BESS in one integrated master schedule
  • One-month EOT and cost claims secured through TIA and claims; secondary baseline prepared
  • Commissioning, energization and COD sequencing for both plants
  • WBS–CBS mapping, change and claims registers, stage-gate reviews

Jul 2023 – Nov 2023

220 lake-restoration projects

Andhra Pradesh, India. Project monitoring unit.

  • Led a multidisciplinary team of 52, including architects and environmental specialists
  • Plans, budgets, approvals and government reporting

Jan 2023 – Jun 2023

IOCL Vadodara refinery expansion

Gujarat, India. About INR 100 crore.

  • Substations, control buildings, fuel storage and gas pipelines
  • Team of 16; estimates, rate analyses, HSE and quality

Nov 2017 – Dec 2022

Solar PV projects, India

Remote central planning. All at COD on schedule.

  • 900 MW Bikaner, Rajasthan
  • 300 MW Pavagada, Karnataka
  • 220 MW Andhra Pradesh
  • 80 MW Chalisgaon, Maharashtra

Dec 2010 – Nov 2017

500+ U.S. federal and military projects

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army installations. USD 100K–10M each.

  • Utilities, fueling systems, tanks, generators, remediation, paving and roads
  • Baseline and recovery schedules, EVM, design-build estimates

Feb 2009 – Nov 2010

Government townships

Andhra Pradesh, India. About INR 1,000 crore each.

  • BOQs, estimates and unit-cost analyses
  • Contractor bill verification

May 2007 – Feb 2009

Building, road, sewer and water works

Chennai and Hyderabad, India. Pradeep Technical Consulting, UltraTech Concrete, NCC Ltd.

  • AutoCAD drawings, quantity take-offs and rate analysis
  • Material testing, sanitary sewer layouts and traffic engineering inputs

The reporting I build

Clients, lenders and owner's engineers read these every month. I build them in Primavera P6, Excel and Power BI, and use AI (Claude) to analyse P6 data and draft reports faster. The panels below use sample data to show the format.

Progress S-curve and earned value

Cumulative % complete, sample data. Move along the chart to read each month.

Planned (baseline)EarnedActual cost

SPIWatch0.96

Earned 67% against 70% planned. Recovery actions go into the look-ahead.

CPIOn track1.02

Earned value slightly ahead of actual cost.

Critical path floatOn track0 d

Total float on the longest path to COD, checked every update.

Three-week look-aheadSample site activities
Activity
W1TWTFW2TWTFW3TWTF
Piling, block 7
Mounting structures, block 6
Module installation, block 5
DC cabling, block 4
Inverter station ITS-03
MV cable trench, feeder 2
Critical, released firstActivityTotal float

What my monthly progress reports cover

  • Progress vs baseline
  • Critical path and float
  • Earned value: S-curves, SPI, CPI
  • Productivity and resource forecasts
  • Cash-flow forecast
  • Risks and mitigation
  • TIA and EOT status
  • Change and claims registers
  • KPI and RAG status
  • Power BI what-if recovery options
DCMA 14-point check, run before every submission (sample)
Missing logic2%Pass
Leads0Pass
Lags3%Pass
Finish-to-start relationships94%Pass
Hard constraints1%Pass
High float7%Review
Negative float0Pass
High duration2%Pass
Invalid dates0Pass
Resources and cost loading100%Pass
Missed tasks6%Review
Critical path testPassPass
CPLI0.97Pass
BEI0.96Pass

Skills

Core skills, laid out as a work breakdown structure. The full list is in my CV.

1.0 Planning & project controls
1.1

Planning & scheduling

  • Integrated master schedules in Primavera P6 (Level 2–4)
  • Critical path method (CPM)
  • Baselines, re-baselining & recovery schedules
  • Look-ahead schedules
  • Subcontractor schedule review & approval
  • DCMA 14-point checks
1.2

Project controls & cost

  • Earned value (S-curves, CPI, SPI)
  • Progress measurement
  • Resource- & cost-loaded schedules
  • WBS–CBS mapping
  • Cash-flow forecasting
  • Change & claims registers
  • Estimating & bid evaluation
1.3

Delay, risk & contracts

  • Time impact analysis (TIA)
  • Extension of time (EOT)
  • Forensic delay analysis
  • Risk management
  • Stage-gate & governance reviews
  • Primavera Risk Analysis, Monte Carlo (developing)
1.4

Reporting & dashboards

  • Monthly progress reports
  • Lender & owner's engineer reporting
  • Power BI dashboards with what-if analysis
  • KPI & RAG reporting
  • Advanced Excel & Power Query
1.5

Energy & EPC

  • Utility-scale Solar PV
  • Battery energy storage systems (BESS)
  • Commissioning, energization & COD
  • Substations & transmission lines
1.6

Tools

  • P6 Analytics & MS Project
  • Power BI
  • Aconex
  • SAP (PS, MM, PM)
  • Procore
1.7

Leadership

  • Planning team leadership
  • Project controls procedures & planning standards
  • Training teams on P6 & controls
  • Stakeholder & client management

Where I've worked

Nineteen years of planning, controls and project management, most recent first.

  1. Apr 2026 – Present

    Planning & Project Controls Manager

    Current role

    China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC)

    Banka 315 MWac Solar PV (about USD 250M), Neftchala, Azerbaijan. Client: Masdar. EPC: CEEC (NWEPDI). Lenders: EBRD, ADB, AIIB.

    • Accountable for planning and project controls for the EPC contractor, from the integrated master schedule to monthly reporting for the client, lenders and owner's engineer; report to the Project Director.
    • Set the project's controls framework: wrote project controls procedures and planning standards, and built and control the IMS in Primavera P6 (Level 2–4), aligning engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning milestones with the EPC contract; manage baselines and re-baselining.
    • Review and approve subcontractor schedules and run look-ahead schedules so site teams work to the critical path.
    • Run DCMA 14-point schedule health checks before every submission.
    • Track earned value (S-curves, CPI, SPI), productivity and resource forecasts; flag critical-path risks early and agree mitigation.
    • Prepare TIA and EOT submissions, weather-delay assessments and recovery plans.

  2. Nov 2023 – Feb 2026

    Senior Planning & Project Controls Manager

    BESS COD a month early

    China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC)

    ACWA Power Riverside 200 MW Solar PV and 330 MW / 500 MWh BESS (USD 533M), Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Client: ACWA Power. Six international lenders incl. EBRD. Foreign Employee of the Year 2024, CEEC.

    • Directed EPC planning and project controls for two concurrent plants, reporting to the Project Director; the BESS reached COD a month ahead of schedule, and the Solar PV plant a month ahead of its EOT-revised date.
    • Controlled Level 2–4 P6 schedules for the PV plant and BESS in one integrated master schedule.
    • Reviewed and approved subcontractor schedules; resolved schedule conflicts through resource balancing, interface coordination and look-ahead schedules.
    • Planned commissioning, energization and COD sequencing for both plants.
    • Reported progress to the client, lenders and owner's engineer, and prepared stage-gate and governance reviews.
    • Secured a one-month EOT and cost claims for the Solar PV plant through TIA and claims submissions; prepared the secondary baseline schedule that took the plant to COD a month ahead of the revised date.
    • Aligned engineering, procurement, construction and finance through an integrated WBS mapped to the CBS; maintained change and claims registers.

  3. Jul 2023 – Nov 2023

    Team Leader, Project Monitoring Unit

    AP Greening and Beautification Corporation

    Vijayawada, India. 220 lake-restoration projects across Andhra Pradesh.

    • Monitored 220 lake-restoration (environmental infrastructure) projects, leading a multidisciplinary team of 52 and reporting to government ministry heads.

  4. Jan 2023 – Jun 2023

    Project Manager

    RTETI (Raudra Technocrats)

    IOCL Vadodara refinery capacity expansion, Gujarat, India. About INR 100 crore. Team of 16.

    • Managed planning, execution and control of the refinery expansion (substations, control buildings, fuel storage and gas pipelines), with estimates, daily progress reporting and HSE and quality compliance.

  5. Nov 2017 – Dec 2022

    Senior Manager, Planning & Project Control

    Solar PV projects, India

    Avaada Power, Hyderabad (remote).

    • Central planning and project controls for four plants (900 MW Bikaner, 300 MW Pavagada, 220 MW Andhra Pradesh, 80 MW Chalisgaon) with a planning team of 9. All reached COD on schedule.

  6. Dec 2010 – Nov 2017

    Team Leader, Planning & Project Control

    Veeare Inc. (Riverside, California)

    Hyderabad, India (remote). 500+ U.S. federal and military projects at Air Force, Navy and Army installations, USD 100K–10M each.

    • Led planning and project controls across renovation, utilities, fueling systems, tanks, generators, environmental remediation, roads and water lines: baseline and recovery schedules in Primavera P6 and MS Project, earned value, and daily-to-monthly MIS reporting.
    • Prepared takeoffs, estimates and design-build cost proposals, ran RFQs and bid evaluations, and supported execution as PMC with U.S. general contractors in Procore and Buildertrend.

  7. Feb 2009 – Nov 2010

    Assistant General Manager, Planning & Costing

    AP Rajiv Swagruha Corporation Ltd.

    Hyderabad, India. Government townships of about INR 1,000 crore each.

    • Prepared BOQs, estimates and unit-cost analyses; verified contractor bills.

  8. May 2007 – Feb 2009

    Civil Engineer

    Pradeep Technical Consulting, UltraTech Concrete, NCC Ltd.

    Chennai and Hyderabad, India. Building, road, sewer and water works.

    • AutoCAD drawings, quantity take-offs, rate analysis and material testing.

About

Chandrakanth Kunkatla

PMP®, Chartered Engineer, M.Tech

I lead planning and project controls, with 19+ years across energy and construction and about USD 1.5 billion of projects planned and controlled. Most of the last decade has been utility-scale Solar PV and battery storage: a 2 GW+ portfolio and a 330 MW / 500 MWh BESS, with six projects at COD on or ahead of schedule.

Before that I led planning and project controls for 500+ U.S. federal and military projects, and worked on government townships, a refinery expansion and 220 lake-restoration projects in India.

I build project controls functions: procedures and planning standards, trained teams and governance reviews. My day-to-day is integrated master schedules in Primavera P6, earned value, delay analysis with TIA and EOT submissions, and the monthly reports and Power BI dashboards that project directors, clients, lenders, owner's engineers and government ministry heads rely on.

Certifications
PMP® (Project Management Institute)Scrum MasterIOSH Managing SafelyOSHAcademy 30-Hour SafetyDeveloping: Primavera Risk Analysis (Monte Carlo)
Memberships
Chartered Engineer and Corporate Member (MIE), Institution of Engineers (India)Professional Member, ASCEMember, PMI
Education
M.Tech, Construction Technology & Management, KL University (Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation), 2021B.Tech, Civil Engineering, University of Allahabad, 2013Diploma, Construction Technology (Civil Engineering), Government Polytechnic, Visakhapatnam, 2007
Recognition
Foreign Employee of the Year 2024, China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC)
Languages
English (full professional), Hindi, Telugu, Tamil (basic)
Based in
Azerbaijan

Let's talk about your next project.

For planning and project controls roles in Solar PV, BESS, transmission and EPC, send me a message here or email me directly.

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At a glance

Current
Planning & Project Controls Manager, Banka 315 MWac Solar PV (CEEC for Masdar)
Sectors
Solar PV, BESS, substations and transmission, EPC, infrastructure, U.S. federal construction
Core tools
Primavera P6, P6 Analytics, MS Project, Power BI, Excel, Aconex, SAP
Strengths
Integrated master schedules, earned value, TIA and EOT, lender and owner's engineer reporting