Author: Francesco Miceli
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BoltShield® anchor bolts rust protector cap
Some weeks ago I’ve been contacted by a company developing an interesting product – a tailor made protector cap for anchor bolts. I’ve notices that in some wind farms corrosion of the exposed side of the anchor bolt can be a problem. For instance, it’s not unusual to observe this phenomenon in areas with high…
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Liebherr crane configuration codes: what do they actually mean?
Have you ever wondered what is the logic behind the crane configuration codes used by Liebherr? How could an unintelligible code such as “SL13DFB” being interpreted? There is a logic behind the letters used – it has to be found in the German roots of the company. The letters most frequently used in wind farm…
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Invest in wind energy option #1 – buy wind turbines
This is the first of several post that I’d like to write in the next weeks about investing in wind energy. There are several possible alternatives to invest in wind energy, or more broadly in renewables: stocks, managed funds, ETFs or even direct investment in the development of a project. The option described in this…
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Invest in wind energy option #2 – stocks and ETFs
A second alternative to invest in wind energy is given by stocks and ETFs of companies in the energy. There are many “renewable energies” ETF and a bunch of solar ETFs. However the choice for wind ETF is much more limited. There used to be one ETF form Invesco (PWND) specialized in pure wind players…
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Wind Energy in Finland
One of the things I enjoy more in my job is that it gives me the possibility to work in several different countries. In the last months I’ve had the pleasure to visit several time Finland for a project developed by Neoen (the French developer that it’s about to launch its IPO) and Prokon. It’s…
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Wind farm construction steps: generic timeline infographic
One of the pleasures of fatherhood is the fact that you have quite a lot of extra times during the night – if your kids do not sleep. Yesterday night has been exceptionally short due to a son diving out of the bed and hitting his head and another who decided that at 6 AM…
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Target Price for BoP: a basic introduction to a complex topic
There is an old joke that say something like “What happens when you put 10 economists in a room? You’ll get 11 opinions.” My experience with Target Price is similar: I’ve heard many opinions in favour and against it and probably in general it’s not “right” or “wrong”, but it’s a strategy that, depending on the…
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Wind turbine foundations cracks – an update
I already discussed in another post a frequent problem of with turbines foundation, the appearance of cracks. In general, my impression is that the new foundations with anchor cages are much more reliable that the previous technical solution (the “embedded ring” – the industry standard some years ago). However, every now and then I still…
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I trust you, but… Professional Indemnity insurance
The Professional Indemnity insurance, also known as Professional Liability or “PI” here in Europe and “Errors & Omissions” at the other side of the ocean is an insurance who protect individuals (engineers, geologist, topographer…) and companies in case they made gross mistakes, negligence and similar errors causing losses to the counterpart who purchased their service….
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Types of cranes
Even if I’m not a specialist I would like to dedicate a post to a relevant element in a wind farm construction – the crane. Crane procurement and wind turbines installation is normally organized by a specialized department, staffed with experts who knows what are the cranes available in the market and the implication of…