Argentina view map
Envision – the Envision Group is a world leading provider of wind power technology and energy storage solutions
Envision Argentina – Local subsidiary of the Envision Group
As a part of its strategic development, Envision acquired the development rights of the project Vientos del Secano in the province of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.
The project was the company`s biggest wind farm in south America, consisting in 50 MW. The scope included the full BoP works and a transmission substation for the utility TRANSBA.
The tight overall deadline from the regulator CAMMESA set the frame or the entire development and construction process, making extremely challenging. Additionally the project was being developed at the same time as other local projects, increasing the overall resource bottleneck on all parties. To add up to the total challenge the main contractor was having a series of difficulties in the country and finally gave up the site and the works, leaving it all up to owner to reach the final objective.
The project would also be hit by the world pandemic affecting all works.
The plan consisted in building up a local project team, setting up the processes, the roles and responsibilities, the supply chain, reporting and project steering.
Permitting and grid interfacing engineering needed to be urgently addressed as the TSO for the 123 kV substation demanded a complex decision process and management.
Following the works abandonment of the main contractor, a sudden built up of own resources would be necessary in order to pick up and own the works, supplies and materials as they were left.
Commissioning procedures needed to be adapted and ad-hoc creative solutions put in place to deal with limitations of the COVID crisis and the travel restriction to and from Bahia Blanca area.
In order to serve project timeline and after long and challenging interface discussions with the TSO, fast decisions were taken, leading to increased project scope (extra switching station).
Additional Engineers and Site Managers were hired to manage all subcontractor`s works, left adrift by the leaving contractor.
Specially rented Motorhomes helped minimizing COVID impact, and housed technicians arriving for construction and commissioning. Local travel restrictions would otherwise require long quarantines before entering the region / site.
Remote commissioning procedures needed to be developed and implemented to allow an international team to support the activities on site.
Strong push from all sides contributed decisively to accelerate and reduce the delay expected due to all accumulating challenges.
Finally, and mostly important the customer could successfully celebrate bringing this important milestone projects online and enjoy the returns the asset operation.
The Netherlands view map
EPZ (Elektriciteits Produktiemaatschappij Zuid-Nederland) the Electricity Production Company South-Netherlands, the operator of the coal- and nuclear power plants located in Borssele in the Netherlands.
OVET – Terminal Port Administrator in Vliessingen, administrating coal storage area
Senvion S.A. (called REpower Systems SE until 2014) was a German wind turbine manufacturer founded in 2001 in Germany, delivering the full EPC supply including the 2 x 6M turbines.
The customer approached REpower to deliver a full EPC turn-key project at a harbour location, in the middle of a coal storage area, an area administered by OVET an external 3rd party company. This consisted in the first challenge, install big 6M turbines and perform infrastructure works (access, transport, craning, cabling, foundations) in the middle of a densely covered area with huge 50m height pills of coal and administered by a 3rd party. Any clearance of space would not only take days but also have a considerable financial spending for project. The ground had a covering layer of asphalt for protection of underground infiltration and pollution. Any work needed to critically manage soil pollution risk. One of the biggest challenges however was to plan the execution of the wind farm works around the daily normal operation of the harbour / coal power plant, any project setback could jeopardize the energy delivery of the power plant. Electrically there was also a considerable risk in connecting two (2) powerful turbines to the somehow “weak” 30 kV harbour grid, it could affect the cranes and other used heavy machinery, even the testing of the turbines could impact the stable operation of the entire harbour and power station. On top of all these challenges, it was REpower`s first full scope project with BoP outside of Germany entirely managed by an internal team. The challenges and risk were big as the project moved into execution.
When our customer approached us the challenge was quite clear. Our job consisted in supporting him with a solid, safe design and planning, and execute perfectly. Our team managed the engineering design both civil and electrical, and provided the customer for a basis for a safe planning. On the engineering side the tasks included works specification, tendering, negotiation, contracting. On the project management side the tasks included planning coordination, execution supervision and final taking over.
To minimize impact and risk, the plan consisted in making just enough space between the big pills of coal for the unavoidable access, foundation work and crane assembly, thus minimizing impact inside critical coal area. The plan also considered safeguarding the existing protective asphalt layer, therefore planned for directional underground drilling for the cable trenches. 3 holes over 400m each were necessary to turbines, station and even power an auxiliary building nearby. Long PVC ducting works were performed outside critical area, and then pulled into final position in 1 attempt. Medium voltage, communication, low voltage power supply cables would would then be installed into the PVC ducts. The station and grid operation parameters were carefully evaluated and selected with the local grid operator (Delta), so that testing and operation ramp up had minimal impact on local grid stability.
Implement on site daily activity coordination as at times more than 5 subcontractors would need to work in parallel inside the critical area, and confined space.
The choices made during design enabled a solid planning a good start into execution. It helped our customer keeping the coal power plant operating and minimized the impact on OVET`s moving pills of coal. During drilling the team faced last minute uncertainties as exact information about dept of old buried cables and the risk of drilling through them arose. The results could have been disastrous and the impact on the harbor area and project huge. Still the team managed with help of local sub-contractor knowledge to overcome that barrier and managed the uncertainty. There were minor schedule delays due to whether (snow, rain and ice) conditions but finally the project was successfully installed and both turbines and power plant could operate stability. Mostly important our customer celebrated the great achievement of installing 2 big turbines in the middle of a coal yard and manage to bring it successfully into full operation.
Argentina view map
Envision – the Envision Group is a world leading provider of wind power technology and energy storage solutions
As a part of its strategic development, Envision acquired the development rights of the project Garcia del Rio in the province of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.
The project was the company`s first wind farm in south America, consisting in 50 MW with full BoP works and a shared switching station with local utility EDES.
The tight overall deadline imposed by the regulator CAMMESA public auction, meant the overall project development and construction process needed to be slim and agile, creating a real challenge for permitting and pre-studies specially since the project was being developed together with a pipeline of other projects. To increase the challenge, the project was EDE`S first of its kind connected to their grid, so processes, engineering needed to be coordinated. The final challenge was setting up the asset management services team necessary to operate the wind farm.
The plan consisted in obtaining the necessary permits with the local project team, setup the engineering and sourcing requirements with the central Hamburg team, establish the supply chain including local construction and supervision services. Establish project level reporting and steering.
Perform pre-studies necessary for engineering as well as high level coordination with utility driven by internal local team.
Setup the Operation and Maintenance services, tasks were specified and sourced locally to enable fast response and correction in case of issues.
In order to serve the project`s tight schedule some parts of the supply chain were included in the main contractor`s scope.
Local team was reinforced with engineers and permitting executives, including 3rd party recognized experts and consultants enabling unblocking of administrative barriers. Site Managers assured subcontractor`s work quality.
Remote operation and local maintenance service contracts were created to enable efficient operation and triggering planned / unplanned maintenance of the asset.
Strong push and motivation from the team contributed decisively to accelerate and reduce accumulated delays in construction and supplies.
Finally, and mostly important the customer could successfully celebrate bringing this important first project online and keep the team momentum for the upcoming project Vientos del Secano.
Mexico view map
Vivenergia – is a developer established in 2012 focused on development, financing and construction of renewables based in Mexico.
Envision – the Envision Group is a world leading provider of wind power technology and energy storage solutions
As a part of the strategic execution, Envision acquired a majority stake in the project pipeline of Vivenergia, including the project Dizlam in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.
The project had several first ones: first project in Yucatan, first project from the developer transitioning into construction, first project connecting with the new grid code, first Envision full BoP project overseas as an owner, first project under coordination of the new Hamburg Centre of Excellence (COE) office.
The scope included a complete update of an existing TSO substation, the construction however needed to happen maintaining service to existing load centres and arriving overhead lines. Integration of the project into CENACE (Dispatching and regulator) would also need to be well managed as it was the first wind power plant in Yucatan Peninsula.
Additionally, project financing and due diligence was performed in parallel with the initial stages of construction, adding up the challenges.
consequências 1) a contaminação so sub-solo ou 2) a paragem da operação de transporte de carvão para a central.
The plan consisted in building up a local project team, setting up the processes, the roles and responsibilities, the supply chain, reporting and project steering.
Permitting engineering needed to be urgently addressed as the TSO 115kV substation had long revision times. Additionally, there were 70 km of overhead line up to the PCC which also would need complex permitting. Finally
Grid code change would require also fast solutions and modification of existing engineering drawings, integration of a Statcom and the development of special SCADA control functionalities.
Integration of the power plant into CENACE needed to be subcontracted to the wind farm substation control and protection supplier, enabling the the turbine`s SCADA to act as data supplier.
Analysis of existing engineering / permitting enabled fast decisions to hire a separate engineering team within the TSO and accelerate works execution on the grid substation. Delays in this substation directly and strongly impacted the project.
Another crucial decision was subcontracting the integration of the power plant into CENACE`s dispatch centre, that enabled the team to focus completely on developing the new required functionalities for the grid code compliance.
Very fast electrical substation modifications enabled Statcom integration and enhance of overall performance. Failing to be compliant meant a huge risk for the asset and a potential tremendous financial impact. A strong push from all sides contributed decisively to accelerate and recover delays of inexperience from all parties.
Finally, and mostly important the final customer could successfully celebrate bringing such an important milestone projects online and transition it into operation.
