Consulting doesn’t have to be a bad word. Partnering with the right consultant like EPiK Energy is what makes the difference. We use our years and mW of wind energy experience to help “consult” on the potential gaps and recognize where improvements can be made BEFORE the project hits any hiccups. With our understanding of development, pre-construction, crane optimization, construction, project recovery, and commissioning, we have the right expertise to guide, direct and deliver your project to meet and exceed your expectations.
Looking for professional consulting services to elevate your renewable energy project? Talk to one of our experts today.
Development
From an O&M and logistics concept perspective, settling O&M aspects at the design stage of a project could be achieved with early communication and coordination. Indeed, the earlier the O&M perspective can be integrated into the Energy, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (EPCI) contract, the better influence it can have on the chosen O&M strategy. For example, relevant industry players engaging early with a developer can ensure that certain lifting solutions will likely benefit from considering not merely crane control (e.g. dynamic heave compensation), but in fact an integrated design of these in order to reach higher efficiency, reduce the repair time, and thus be able to operate within narrower weather windows.
Pre-Construction
Pre-construction planning involves the incorporation of construction due diligence both during the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stage of the project and prior to site mobilization planning. It is about planning ahead and being proactive in your construction strategy. We cover all key areas to help with designing the right project.
Crane Optimization
Safe and efficient crane operations play a significant role in the successful delivery of construction projects, and thus meticulous planning of crane lifts becomes increasingly critical. Crane lift planning involves a series of complex decisions to be made while satisfying a wide range of criteria and constraints. Conventionally, making these decisions is time-consuming and to a large extent relies on the planner’s experience. To make more informed and optimized planning decisions, past research works investigated various automated planning techniques and optimization algorithms.
Construction
A conventional power station is one large machine, which will not generate power until its construction is complete. It will often need a substantial and complicated civil structure, and construction risk will be an important part of the project assessment. However, the construction of a wind farm is more similar to the purchase of a fleet of trucks than it is to the construction of a power station. The turbines will be purchased at a fixed cost agreed upon in advance and a delivery schedule will be established exactly as it would be for a fleet of trucks. In a similar way, the electrical infrastructure can be specified well in advance – again probably at a fixed price. There may be some variable costs associated with the civil works but this cost variation will be very small compared to the cost of the project as a whole. The construction time is also very short compared to a conventional power plant. A 10 MW wind farm can easily be built within a couple of months.
Project Recovery
The recovery processes for onshore wind farms typically use simulations from large-eddy simulation (LES) models. They show that for very large wind turbine arrays, the recovery occurs mostly due to vertical momentum transport by turbulent eddies, whereas, for isolated turbines, recovery is dominated by horizontal advective momentum transport by the mean flow. The importance of vertical transport is also confirmed by LES and wind tunnel experiments that find the vertical fluxes of kinetic energy to be of the same order as that of the power extracted by the wind turbines. Knowing is half the battle. We intimately know how the recovery process works and our experience helps you prevent any unforeseen issues.
Commissioning
Once construction is complete, commissioning will begin. The definition of ‘commissioning’ is not standardized, but generally covers all activities after all components of the wind turbine are installed. Commissioning of an individual turbine can take little more than two days with experienced staff like EPiK Energy’s team.
Commissioning will usually involve standard tests for the electrical infrastructure as well as the turbine, and inspection of routine civil engineering quality records. Careful testing at this stage is vital if a good quality wind farm is to be delivered and maintained.
What Can We Help You With Today?
If you are looking to take your renewable energy projects to another level, we are here for you. Our team of experts is ready to provide your team with top-quality wind and/ or solar services.
Give us a call today for more information.
