Author: Francesco Miceli
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Wind turbines components transport problems
Transport related problems occupy a relevant percentage of time in my department. It’s no big surprise, considering that the models that we are selling (V90, V100 and V112) have blades up to 55 meters. Usually we have 3 different kinds of problems: Bending radius Vertical transition curves (for instance on top of hills) Weight…
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LEGO and Vestas: The unlikely duo
As you probably know if you are in the wind sector both LEGO and Vestas are Danish companies, so it is not a big surprise to discover that several wind turbines related products are produced by LEGO. Not only the “standard” LEGO City 7747 Wind Turbine Transporter, but even a personalized, limited edition set (known…
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Wind Farms construction contracts
Wind farms can generally be broken down into 2 separate areas of construction: Turbines: supply, installation and commissioning of wind turbines and towers Balance of Plant (BoP) works: everything else needed except the turbines (foundations, substations, cabling, etc.) Several option are available to the developers: The first option is that the wind farm Special Purpose…
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Medium Voltage Cables Optimization
The optimum design of the medium voltage (MV) cables consists in finding the best compromise between the initial cost of the cables and the total energy loss of the system. For this reason we design wind farms with a radial network, and section of the cables decreasing from substation to the most faraway point of…
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What is this BoP?
BoP is an English acronym that stands for Balance of Plants. In the wind farms sector, it means everything but the wind turbines. Basically there are 3 types of Wind Farm contracts commonly used: Supply only. It include WTGs, SCADA, Installation supervision and Commissioning. Supply and Installation, including all the items in Supply only plus…
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Geotextile vs Geogrid: which is the best solution?
This is a debate we are living each time we have to build internal roads on soils with a low (<5) to very low (<2) CBR. Basically when the others alternatives (mainly soil substitution and soil improvement) are not feasible we are adopting two different solution, either a strong geotextile with reinforcement and separation properties…
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Patrick Henderson foundation
Patrick Henderson foundation is a technology widely used in the States, with thousands of installed foundations, but far less common in Europe. It’s a patented solution that consists of a large diameter, cast-in-place annular pier, with an average diameter of 4.5 m and a depth of about 9m, depending on the soil conditions and the…
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Transversal drainage
A quick photographic overview of the different types of transverse drainage systems currently used in the wind farms. In the following pictures, standard precast concrete pipes, cast in-situ concrete pipes and hard plastic. Basically the choice is more an economical than a technical problem, considering that they are equally effective. The real problem, as I…
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Cable trenches – the nervous system of the wind farm
Cable trenches construction probably doesn’t looks like the most exciting things in life, but including for them there are things that is better to know to avoid mistakes. They are used to connect the WTGs together with medium voltage cables, and they bring the earth and the optical fibres cables as well. The standard construction…
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Wellpoint drainage
Wellpoint system is a solution that we used successfully in a wind farm with serious drainage problems. The soil was made of silty sands, with a very high water table level due to a river nearby. The system consists of several interconnected wells spaced along a trench. All of them are connected to a common…