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CONCRETE ANSWER FOR SUPER-SIZED WIND TURBINES
THE INTRODUCTION OF SUPER-SIZED OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES, NEARLY 1,000FT TALL AND FIVE TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY OTHER WIND TURBINE YET INSTALLED IN UK COASTAL WATERS, WILL DEMAND FOUNDATIONS THAT CAN TAKE THE STRAIN.
DEVELOPED FROM RESEARCH The new turbine design has been developed from work by the pan- European Upwind research project funded by the European Union. The aim of the research was to examine the technical feasibility of building larger turbines that offer increased capacity and so boost renewable energy production.
JOINED UP THINKING
Teesside firms have urged big companies operating large renewable energy projects to feed more work to the local supply chain.
Stokesley fabrication specialist MC Ware Mechanical and deep sea cable laying firm CTC Marine Projects in Darlington have both successfully bid for work on key schemes in the region.
Now there are further opportunities in the pipeline, with EDF Energy leading the Teesside Offshore Wind Farm scheme off the coast of Redcar and Hartlepool in the running for a £150m wind turbine venture led by Spanish firm Gamesa.
ENCOURAGING WORK FOR THE LOCAL SUPPLY CHAIN But MC Ware and CTC have expressed concern that too much work on big schemes is being diverted to firms outside of the region, despite the North-East boasting a ready-made supply chain for the renewable energy industries.
MC WARE Jonathan Wheatley, Managing Director of MC Ware, said: “It’s great that international players such as EDF are basing huge, job-creating schemes on Teesside. However, for the region to get full economic value from these projects, we need to see more work going to local firms with the necessary expertise.
The proposed turbines would have revolving blades with a 800ft diameter and a capacity of 20 megawatts (Mw) compared to the 3Mw of most wind turbines. Currently, the world’s largest wind turbine is manufactured by Enercon and produces 7.5Mw.
NEW GENERATION GRAVITY FOUNDATIONS Larger turbines place additional demands upon their foundations. The concrete industry has developed a new generation of gravity foundations that offer particular advantages for offshore locations. Those same advantages are also applicable to the proposed super-sized turbines.
Concrete gravity foundations, typically in the form of cellular caissons ballasted with
“We have a flexible, capable supply chain on our doorstep so it makes absolute sense to use it.”
CTC MARINE PROJECTS Pierre Boyde, Commercial and Business Development Director at CTC Marine Projects said: “On previous schemes, too much work has gone to overseas companies based hundreds of miles from where the work is taking place. “The North East is unique in that it can
gravel or sand, are low maintenance, have considerable design flexibility and whole-life cost efficiencies. In particular, the high damping properties of concrete minimises vibration. This negates potential structural fatigue. For tall offshore wind towers the use of concrete gravity foundations instead of monopiles provides improved dynamic response.
“The concrete industry has developed a range of concrete gravity foundations that could be further developed to take the strain of larger turbines”, said Andrew Minson, Executive Director of MPA The Concrete Centre. “Concrete has unrivalled damping properties that can counteract the vibration of tall wind turbines and structural fatigue. This makes concrete foundations particularly well suited for offshore large turbines with a capacity of 3Mw or 20Mw.”
MPA The Concrete Centre
www.concretecentre.com
e = See enhanced entry online
provide the full supply chain for an offshore wind farm development.”
“Of course there has to be a fair and transparent tender process and Teesside firms have to prove they are competent enough to take on the work.
“However, we know of local companies that have all the right credentials on paper through their long track record, but have still been overlooked.”
Now MC Ware and CTC want the Government to put pressure on lead contractors to guarantee that a certain proportion of the work will be passed on to the local supply chain.
Mr Wheatley added: “The region could extract more value from these projects if, say, at least 30% of the work went to local suppliers. In return, local firms would have to demonstrate that they could carry out the work to a sufficiently high standard.”
MC Ware Group
www.mcware.co.uk
CTC Marine
www.ctcmarine.com
e = See enhanced entry online = See video library online
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 13
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