The 400 MW “Trianel Windpark Borkum”, spread over 56 km2, is the first large-scale municipal offshore project in Europe – and one that the GL Group has played a significant role in helping to shape.
GL’s involvement in the Borkum project dates back to November 2009 when GL was initially contacted to provide technical consultancy services for the planned wind farm.
“The reason we were brought into the project was that the owner, the German utility company co-operative Trianel, was keen to involve a well-respected and experienced technical consultancy company. This was in part in response to the banks who were backing the project and concerned that it was important to have some well-experienced consultants involved in the venture. Some of their advisors suggested that Trianel turn to GL Garrad Hassan for support,” says Ian Bonnon, GL Garrad Hassan’s Senior Vice
One-Billion-Euro-project
The project is gargantuan in scale and scope, consisting of 80 wind turbines of 5 MW each to be installed in two phases. When completed, the wind farm will be capable of generating 750 GWh annually, enough electricity to power nearly 400,000 households. Each wind turbine will be supported by a tripod jacket structure installed in water depths of up to 40 m.
GL was initially contracted to undertake some project risk work and technical studies as well as reviewing the capital costs of the project. However, says Bonnon, the role expanded over time. “We started to help Trianel in their negotiations with the supply chain to get various contractors ready to go, working towards a financial close date near the end of 2010. We were also keeping banks advised of the project’s progress. It was really all about trying to get all the contracts in place and active so that once the project reached financial close, it could hit the ground running.”
Providing Additional Services
By December 2010, it was all systems go, with all contracts signed and funding released by the various banks and investors. The project promptly went into full design and build mode with GL taking on a new role, providing project management services.
“Our team expanded once again at this point,” explains Bonnon. “We then had people who had previously been negotiating work packages now taking on the role of managing these contracts through design and construction. Now, around one year later, the offshore work has started and some of the piling work for the tripod foundations has already been completed.”
Fabrication of tripod foundations is continuing and so is the design, manufacture and supply of all other components of the project – the offshore substation, turbines, cables and control systems.
Delivering on Time
The main construction activity on the project will take place next year, which Bonnon terms “the busy phase”, with a hint of understatement. “That’s when there will be multiple contractors working offshore finishing foundations, erecting turbines, laying cables and installing the offshore substation.”
As the physical workload gears up, one of the main aims of Bonnon’s team is to ensure that all the different contractors deliver their part of the work on time. It becomes a major coordinating job: not just with the contractors, but also arranging offshore vessels and ensuring that everything gets done in a safe and timely manner.
GL’s team will again expand in numbers as the construction phase kicks in and the various interfaces proliferate, giving rise to more risk assessment and safety considerations. Managing all this is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Bonnon’s team.
Tapping the Synergies
“Interface management is the key aspect of the whole project,” says Bonnon. “It’s almost like having a crystal ball and trying to foresee things that might go wrong. If they do, what are your mitigating measures? It’s about spending a lot of time creating contingency solutions, looking at the high-risk areas in the project so that if the worst-case event does happen we are able to cope with it.”
”Rather than starting out flatfooted when that contingency event occurs,” says Bonnon, “it is about pre-engineering and planning so that a contingent solution is readily to hand.”
From having initially been brought in as trouble-shooters, GL now plays a critical role at the heart of this highly ambitious offshore wind power development. That is also where the GL Group’s wider skills-set comes into play: the ability to mesh the various elements of the GL Group together, harnessing the unique talents of the GL Garrad Hassan and GL Noble Denton teams.
The whole is proving stronger than the sum of its parts. “We’ve managed to tap into the synergies of each of the organisations and mobilise a coherent team,” says Bonnon.
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EXPERT:
Ian Bonnon, GL Garrad Hassan
Senior Vice President Offshore Wind Practice
Phone: +44 20 7812883-0
E-Mail: ian.bonnon@gl-group.com
