Key wind turbine design expert joins Garrad Hassan - 28th Aug 2008Industry expert Ben Hendriks has joined Garrad Hassan’s Turbine Design Group. With broad wind turbine experience spanning 17 years, at both ECN and Dutch manufacturer, WindMaster, Ben will play a key role in both Garrad Hassan’s turbine design team and its Dutch operation, by opening a new office near Alkmaar. In 1991, after graduation, Ben started his career in wind energy at ECN where he became active in aeroelastic simulation, cost optimization, calculation of loads on wind turbines in complex terrain and full scale blade testing. He went on to join WindMaster in 1996, where he became the first external user of Garrad Hassan’s GH Bladed turbine design software as the two companies collaborated in the areas of control, loads and monitoring.
Ben returned to ECN in 1998 and has since held different positions in the fields of certification, measurements, design and control and, ultimately, was manager of the Wind Turbine Design and Control Group. In addition, he has lead both the research of the Dutch Offshore Wind Energy Converter (DOWEC) project and, more recently, the ‘Upscale’ element of the EU’s UpWind project that is focused on driving the design and manufacture of large-scale 8-10MW turbines. David Quarton, the Director responsible for Garrad Hassan’s Turbine Design Group commented: “Ben’s arrival continues the trend of key wind energy figures joining our 280 strong staff around the world. Ben’s experience will strengthen our ability to provide world class turbine design consultancy and, together with his GH colleague Gerrit-Jan van Zinderen, he will play a key role in growing the GH team in The Netherlands.” Garrad Hassan wins contract for major UK offshore engineering design project - 20th Aug 2008Garrad Hassan has been contracted by EDF Energy to undertake the Front End Engineering Development (FEED) study for a Teesside Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of North East England. The project, when fully operational, could generate enough power every year to supply around 60,000 homes – the approximate combined volume of households in Redcar and Cleveland - with clean energy.The FEED study is a key stage in the development of such a project, addressing areas of technical uncertainty in all aspects of the project. Included in the scope of the study for Teesside are economic optimisation, planning sequencing of work and determining the best contracting strategy. Garrad Hassan will be responsible for all areas of the study: project management, wind turbine, layout design and analysis, offshore structures, electrical system and grid connection, O&M, marine installation, cable installation, H&S, risk management and procurement support. Garrad Hassan will be supported in this project by BOMEL Limited. Teesside Offshore Wind Project Manager, Hugh Yendole, states: “We are pleased to award this contract to Garrad Hassan & BOMEL, who won a close competitive contest. The outputs of the FEED will be very important to guiding the delivery of the Teesside offshore wind farm.” Colin Morgan, Offshore Projects Manager at Garrad Hassan comments on their involvement in the Teesside project: “FEED studies bring real value to offshore wind projects such as Teesside - resulting in wind farms which are more optimal and generally better thought-through, putting them in the best possible position for proceeding to procurement under tough market conditions for project owners." The award of this contract confirms Garrad Hassan’s position as a leading multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy in the offshore wind sector. Since 2006, the company has completed works on similar FEED studies for other UK offshore wind projects. Garrad Hassan is shaping the futures of engineering students - 1st Jul 2008Garrad Hassan has joined the University of Bristol`s Engineering Design Partnership to help to develop the engineers of the future. The partnership supports students on the University of Bristol's new five-year multi-disciplinary Master of Engineering degree programme in Engineering Design. The course is specifically aimed at the highest calibre students demonstrating leadership potential.
The companies in the partnership contribute to the industrial advisory board and the teaching programme at the University. They also participate in student selection for the course, as well as providing financial support for scholarships. In return, they have the opportunity to provide placements and, ultimately, careers to these high quality candidates. On joining the partnership, David Quarton, the Director responsible for turbine design activities said‘Garrad Hassan has a strong track record of recruiting and retaining high quality engineering graduates. We see our involvement in the Engineering Design Partnership as key to the further development of a strong relationship with the university, as well as allowing us to network with key engineering companies in the Bristol area.' Further information about the Engineering Design Partnership can be found here. Further information about the University of Bristol's Master of Engineering degree programme in Engineering Design can be found here. Wind technology sector delivers a united vision of wind power research in 2030 - 14th May 2008TPWind, the forum focused on driving a cohesive European approach to innovation and cost reduction in the global wind energy sector, unveiled its stakeholders` combined vision of the future at the EWEC 2008 conference in April. The synopsis, presented for the first time at the event, identified Europe as the global driver in the sector and set out specific R&D targets to be reached by 2030, one of which would involve the installation of 20 wind turbines per working day from now until then. The report then went on to address the barriers to achieving the vision and prioritise the actions to be taken in order for the sector to move forward rapidly, efficiently and cost effectively.
Content for the synopsis was derived from the output of a number of TPWind working groups that included representatives from industry, government, research and development institutions, finance organisations, the wider power sector and the general public. This breadth of audience perspective makes TPWind unique in its ability to assess the sector. TPWind will shortly publish a Strategic Research Agenda and Market Deployment Strategy identifying research priorities for the European wind industry through to 2030. Garrard Hassan has senior representatives on the steering committee and multiple working groups of TPWind, as well as a major involvement in the TPWind secretariat. GH Directors, David Quarton and Lars Landberg attended the launch of the synopsis at EWEC 2008 and said “We have high hopes that the Strategic Research Agenda and the Market Deployment Strategy will be instrumental in focusing European policy-makers, industrial parties, researchers and funding bodies on the research topics that really matter.” Garrad Hassan Wins Queen`s Award For Enterprise Once Again - 21st Apr 2008Garrad Hassan is today being presented with the most prestigious business award in the UK, the Queen`s Award for Enterprise 2008. The award has been given to GH for its excellence in International Trade.
Headquartered in Bristol with a UK office in Glasgow as well as branches in 17 other countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. GH employs over 260 people. The success stems from a well focussed international marketing strategy which consists simply of ensuring that GH has excellent local staff available in all the countries where there is significant activity as well as world leading capability at its home base in the UK.
GH has been Bank’s or Owner’s Engineer for 21,000MW (worth some £21 billion) of operating projects, and has completed resource assessment of over 80,000MW – more than the total installed conventional generating capacity in the UK. GH wins the Queen’s Award for the second time since the business commenced in 1984 for more than trebling export sales between 2002 and 2007 to over £11 million out of a turnover of £13 million in 2006/7. Even more impressive sales have been achieved in 2007/8. “The Award Winners demonstrate the innovation, enterprise and dynamism that Britain will need to continue to succeed in the global market” Gordon Brown, Prime Minister[1]. Currently Great Britain has over 2GW of installed wind farm capacity supplying 1,358,550 homes. [2]. As well as working abroad GH is actively involved in many major UK wind farm projects. Marine energy in the UK is a rapidly developing field with research projects in place along the British coastline. Garrad Hassan is at the forefront of this research providing expert advice to help drive the industry to a commercial level. Bristol is a major centre for marine renewables with four turbine developers nearby and hence GH is very well placed to help their development just as it has in the wind sector. GH also has a solar business based in Barcelona. Andrew Garrad, the CEO and founder of GH, is proud to receive the award“We remain the world’s leading wind energy consultancy and we are seeing dramatic growth in our marine renewables (wave and tidal) and our solar energy practices which is exciting. I am very proud that GH has established a truly global network which has allowed us to achieve these impressive figures. This year we shall open new offices in India and Poland to bring our total to 19 countries. We do not really distinguish between domestic and overseas sales – the environmental challenge is global, our customers are global so we are too."1 2007 Queen’s Award magazine 2 British Wind Energy Association 2008 data Ten Major Suppliers of Turbines, Components and Design Services Join to Study Reliability - 15th Mar 2008Garrad Hassan (GH) and nine other industry and academic leaders have already been collaborating to put together a successful proposal for EU support for the new RELIAWIND project, with the aim of measuring and understanding historical reliability to create a new generation of more intelligent and reliable wind turbines expected to generate electricity more cheaply.The aim of RELIAWIND is to monitor component reliability, to propose new designs which are more reliable[1] and cheaper to maintain and operate, thereby aiming to increase availability to 99%[2]. “The project RELIAWIND led by GAMESA has received full endorsement from the European Commission, with its 13.5 score in the first request for proposals related to Non Nuclear Energy. It is located in the exclusive group of most highly marked projects, rendering it eligible for funding of up to €5.2M for its development.”, said a spokesperson for Gamesa Eolica. To achieve the project’s aims, ten major suppliers of products and services to the wind energy industry have joined forces. These include turbine and component manufacturers, wind farm owners and operators, consultants and research institutions. The research comprises three key phases.
“The project provides a fantastic opportunity to make a real and substantial step forward in the understanding of component and system reliability in the wind industry”, said Mark Spring, Garrad Hassan project engineer for RELIAWINDThe new technologies will be integrated in new generations of wind turbines, components and wind farms, aiming for compatibility between different manufacturers and clients to achieve maximum service guarantee. [1] Reliability target: 20% increase of Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) in offshore and 10% in onshore wind. Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) will drop 50% offshore and 20% onshore. [2] Availability will improve from 85-90% to 97-98% offshore and from 97-98% to 98-99% onshore. Garrad Hassan Represents Morocco State Utility in RFP for 300MW Tarfaya Wind Project - 6th Mar 2008Garrad Hassan and Partners (GH) in Bristol, UK is acting as the Technical Advisor to the Morocco state-owned utility Office National de l`Electricité (ONE) in support of an RFP for a 300 MW wind farm to be developed near Tarfaya on the Atlantic coast in Southern Morroco.The RFP was issued on February 14, 2008. At the completion of the project, the farm will be contracted under a 20-year power purchase agreement with ONE. The GH team is led by CEO Dr Andrew Garrad assisted by Jean-Pierre Callens and Khaled Klabi of GH France in Paris, as well Lyndon Greedy from Bristol. Andrew Garrad commented “The demand for electricity is increasing rapidly in Morocco and a target of 1000 MW of wind power by 2012 has been set by the Moroccan government. This RFP is a major step in a new country, indeed a new continent, for wind power. Morocco has three key ingredients: excellent wind, lots of space and a real need for additional generation. GH is very excited to be involved in a central role in the development of this market leading project.”HSBC is acting as financial advisor and Chadbourne and Parke as legal adviser, with the respective teams being led by Yusuf Macun and Robin Mizrahi. Garrad Hassan breaks the 3GW mark with GH Forecaster - 18th Feb 2008Garrad Hassan (GH) announces reaching its target for 2007, providing reliable forecasts for 3GW of wind energy worldwide.
GH Forecaster is a state of the art short term forecasting service used and trusted by grid operators, wind farm owners and energy traders. GH provides online forecast services for clients in 9 countries across 4 continents.
Comment from Andrew Tindal, GH Director: “As the world wind energy industry booms, with 20GW of new installations in 2007 (Global Wind Energy Council, January 2008) the issue of integrating power from wind farms into the electrical grid and trading wind on energy exchanges are becoming some of the most important issues facing the wind industry. State of the art forecasting such as the service we offer is a key part of the solution to these issues. GH has a global reputation for expertise in predicting the energy production of wind farms over the long term, and I am pleased that we are developing an equally strong reputation in the rapidly growing international market for short term forecasting, as evidenced by GH now forecasting for 3GW of wind in 9 countries.”GH Forecaster adopts a combined physical/statistical approach. The method utilises weather model inputs from a number of approved suppliers and enhances this data to the site-specific conditions. The refinement of the weather model input and conversion to wind farm power is achieved through the application of high resolution models accounting for the topography and turbine wake effects, and through statistical routines that “learn” using feedback from the site. The combination of data from weather model suppliers provides additional service reliability due to redundancy of input data, and improves forecast accuracy by enabling the application of ensemble forecasting techniques. |
 |
