Author: Francesco Miceli
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Wind farms roads and crane pads made of laterite
I’m currently having the pleasure of working at a wind farm project in Senegal. One of the challenges I’m facing is the use of unconventional materials, at least based on my European background. For instance, the internal roads and crane pads will be probably made of laterite, a solution very common in tropical climates successfully…
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FIDIC contracts in EPC Wind Farms
I’ve recently had the pleasure to be exposed recently to the FIDIC contracts structure. Therefore I want to share with you my impression regarding the possibility of using this type of contract in wind farm EPC tenders. The first FIDIC contract was released in the fifties. After half a century, the FIDIC contract family is…
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CBR value – road aggregate thickness correlation
After a long search I’ve finally found a direct correlation between CBR and gravel thickness for unpaved gravel roads. I’ve discovered that often wind farms are built in areas with a low (<5%) to very low CBR. Somehow empirically, we’ve started with a standard 20 cm layer of gravel. We’ve learned the hard way that…
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AASHTO green book equation in wind farms road design
I’ve been recently asked to justify the roadbed thickness for a wind farm I’ve designed. For several reasons (mainly because the majority of documents are redacted by non-civil engineers) the engineering companies supporting our customer ask for a written demonstration that the road design comply with the requirement of the famous AASTHO 1993 green book….
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Relevant parameters in wind farm production
After the connection of a Wind Farm to the grid several parameters are used to analyze the smooth operation of the installation. The more relevant are: Capacity Factor [latex size=”1″]CF=\left( \frac{E(kWh)}{P(kW) T(h)}\right )[/latex] Is a parameter used frequently in power producing plant. A high capacity factor means that the plant is working almost continuously (for…
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Narrow track cranes
In wind farms construction usually at least 2 cranes are needed: a main crane to lift component such as tower segments, blades and rotor and a smaller crane called “auxiliary” that help the main crane during the lift operations to manipulate the wind turbine component. The auxiliary crane can also be used to move steel…
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Nacelle Trailer (Low Loader)
Nacelle trailer (also called low loader) is one of the special vehicles currently used to carry WTG components from the factory to the wind farm. His peculiarity is that it’s very low, only a few centimetres above the road: this is to allow transportation on public road, where bridges with a free height of 5…
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Carrying blades with a balloon
In very complicated wind farms blades and sometimes other components are carried by helicopters – an expensive solution, to be used only as “last option”. What I’ve discovered today is that a balloon was used by CL CargoLifter to carry the blades in a small scale test made for Nordex at the former airport of…
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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…