Author: Francesco Miceli
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Itemized sourcing: everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?
Itemized sourcing is the new mantra in the business. Basically, it means that you should split the BoP (Civil and Electrical works) in as many lots as possible, in order to achieve substantial savings. This strategy is the opposite of the “single subcontractor” approach, where you give the full package to a unique contractor or…
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I can’t believe they invented it: “factual” vs “interpretative” geotechnical report
One of the things I’d like the most about my job is the fact that I still learn new things, even on topic were I wrongly believe there is not much more new to see. This week during a telco with my accomplice in crime Eduardo I’ve discovered a new trick that I suspect has…
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Financial securities: what’s that all about?
A financial security is an instrument to give a party (for instance, the buyer of a wind turbine foundation) an assurance that the seller (in this case, the company that build the foundation) will perform according to his obligation (that is, will comply with the technical and commercial requirements). They can have different names –…
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Environmental impacts of wind farms
When I talk about my job with people coming from different businesses I receive often question linked to the “environmental impact” of wind turbines. This term include various effect related to the construction of a wind farm. They can be summarized in the following categories: Visual impact Are wind turbines ugly or not? This is…
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Key milestones in wind farm development
The development of a wind farm project is characterized by several milestones linked to contractual obligations of the parties. The most relevant milestones are marked below. They are in chronological order, and some of them could not appear in a specific project (for instance, not all projects have a limited notice to proceed or the…
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Strength in Numbers: the multi rotor, 12 blades turbine concept
The idea is not new: for instance around 1800 some “twin” mills have been used to pump water in Denmark and there are quite a few similar concepts and international patents dating the first half of 1900 – see for instance the drawing below. What is interesting here is the size of the company testing…
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Characteristics of wind turbine blades
The most elegant element of the wind turbine is, at least for me, the blade. Blades are currently reaching incredible lengths (onshore we are almost at 70 meters, offshore they can be even bigger) and, as I discussed in this post, can be made of several materials. The cheap solution is fibreglass, more heavy, while…
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The gentle art of EPC wind farms: design responsibility
In the ideal FIDIC world there is little space for the discussion about design responsibility. Either the Employer (FIDIC Red) or the Contractor (FIDIC yellow & silver) is going to do all (or almost all) the design. Unsurprisingly, real life is more complicate than this. You will have an hard time trying to get reasonable…
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Gearbox in wind turbines
Why do you need a gearbox in a wind turbine? The short answer is that you don’t need one – if you are using a direct drive WTG. But even if the solution without gearbox is used by several manufacturers (e.g. the Goldwind 2.5 PMDD, Enercon models, etc.) the majority of makers decided to include…
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Wind farm earthing and optical fiber cables
In this post of many, many years ago I explained how wind farm trenches are usually built. In addition to the medium voltage cables, in the trenches usually there are also 2 other type of cables: Earthing cables Optical fiber cables The earthing cables are usually made of copper and they are used to dissipate…