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Get ready for another WindEurope event in Bilbao, Spain, with a full exhibition & high-level conference, showcasing the latest in onshore and offshore wind!

The event is a great opportunity for interested EPC/CBoP-experts to meet our dedicated engineering and sales team to learn more about CTE Wind’s civil engineering and foundation expertise and to talk about future business opportunities. Meet the foundation experts at the Booth 3-B46.

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The event will take place in Basque city Bilbao, home of CTE Wind Ibérica ( Enrique Martínez Camarero & Pekka Maunu ) on 5-7 April 2022

Do not hesitate to contact us to organize a meeting. See you soon in Bilbao.

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In the last 2 years over 50 project developers trusted CTE Wind’s Soft-spot^® solution. Recently in Spain the expert of wind turbine foundations has won their third project, where the Soft-spot^® solution was implemented.

Bilbao (Esp) / La Richardais (FRA) – CTE Wind Ibérica has won again a contract in Spain to calculate and design foundations with its Soft-spot^® solution. This is an important milestone for CTE Wind International as now three wind farms on the Iberian Peninsula will take advantage of its cost saving design. In addition to these projects, CTE Wind’s clients are also adopting this solution in many other wind farms worldwide. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Lithuania, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and Thailand to name a few. Over 50 wind farms around the globe, 750 wind turbines are using this resource saving solution which was introduced a while ago by CTE Wind.

« CTE Wind is proud of the confidence shown by its clients, and especially of the interest on applying the Soft-spot^® solution», Chief executive Alexander MARTIN said and added « Our design provides interesting advantages and cost saving in material consumption and civil works while being easy to be built. »

Simply the most economical foundation

The Soft-spot^® was developed by CTE Wind’s engineering team and is implemented in various countries around the world. As a result of his astonishing design this solution allows savings in concrete volume up to 15%, reduction of foundation diameter and total weight reduction of reinforcement bars of 7 to 9%. The earthwork to be handled is reduced too. In some cases, what is also important is the available space : with Soft-spot^® you need less surface for the foundation. The construction is very easy and the material for the soft layer can be easily purchased for a low price all over the world.

From 12 to 15 September 2023, Husum will become an energy hub for Germany and Northern Europe. CTE Wind participates for the first time in Husum with an own stand.

CTE Wind is pleased to announce its participation in Wind Husum, which will take place in Germany from 12 to 15 September 2023. As a major player in the renewable energy industry, CTE Wind is pleased to be part of an event that brings together all segments and players in the renewable energy sector in Germany and Northern Europe.

With around 600 exhibitors, 15,000 visitors and representatives from 55 nations, Wind Husum has become a major meeting place for the renewable energy industry. Participants return year after year different main reasons. The event has a rich history of over 30 years as a driver of renewable energy and offers real-world connections with industry professionals and experts.

CTE Wind looks forward to being part of this exciting event and contributing to its success.

SCHEDULE A MEETING

Alexander MARTIN CEO of CTE Wind International, along with the Spanish country Manager Pekka Maunu, and Sergio CARÈ LUCAS, Business Development Manager of de CTE Wind will attend at the largest renewables conference dedicated to the wind energy market in Europe and all over the world. This is an excellent opportunity for interested companies to meet our team, learn more about CTE Wind’s expertise in civil engineering and foundations and discuss future collaborations..

Do not hesitate to contact us to organize a meeting.
See you soon in Husum.

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CTE Wind inaugurates its first North American office in Broomfield, Colorado. Senior Engineer Jomâa Ben-Hassine (PhD) will oversee the structural engineering and geotechnical projects in the US and Canada.

Broomfield, CO / La Richardais, France — CTE Wind International, a consultancy specialized in the structural design of onshore foundations for wind turbine generators (WTGs), is pleased to announce the official opening of its North American office – CTE WIND USA, Inc. – in Broomfield, Colorado (Denver metro area).

« The decision to open our new office in the State of Colorado is a sensible choice for us and for our clients, » says CTE Wind International CEO Alexander MARTIN. « Denver is near the geographic center of the country and is at the heart of the wind belt. From Denver International Airport, our office colleagues can reach most project sites in a few hours and can visit with our North American clients easily, » he explains.

The Colorado office is dedicated to supporting the needs of our North American clients. Our customers on both sides of the Atlantic asked CTE Wind for a North American presence. They can now benefit from the same responsiveness and know-how they have come to expect from the CTE Wind offices in France (HQ), Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain and in Asia.

Experienced Director of Operations & Engineering

Senior Engineer Jomâa Ben-Hassine (PhD, PE, P.Eng., ing.) who is leading the structural and geotechnical consultancy will serve as Director of Operations & Engineering in the US and Canada. Dr. Ben-Hassine is a civil engineer licensed in twenty US states and three Canadian provinces. He has accumulated over 30 years of practical experience in geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, foundation design, soil-structure interaction, reliability-based design, geohazard recognition and mitigation and risk assessment. He is active on several technical and standard development committees and has taken on leadership roles in multiple professional organizations (AWEA’s WTSC, ARESCA, IEC, and ASCE).

« We are very happy to have Jomâa Ben-Hassine on board of CTE Wind USA., » says MARTIN. « He brings in longstanding experience in wind and solar energy and knows the US and European standards and guidelines. North American EPC/BOP contractors and developers will benefit from the best of the two worlds, especially when it comes to bigger wind turbines above 4 MW with higher hub heights. »

About CTE Wind International

CTE Wind Civil Engineering is an international engineering consulting firm specialized in the analysis and design of onshore wind turbine foundations. CTE Wind has been active in the wind energy sector since 2003. As of 2019, CTE Wind has designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations for over 17,500 turbines in 67 countries. CTE Wind is headquartered in France and has offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, USA and Asia.

The company is a subsidiary of the CTE Group, a consulting firm, specialized in building and civil engineering. The CTE Group was founded in 1965 and today is one of the leaders in the structural engineering sector.

CTE Wind commissioned the Spanish University of Burgos to carry out a series of tests with the Soft-Spot™^®. The structural tests are intended to prove once again if and how the resource-saving wind turbine foundation solution for “onshore” wind turbines works.

Burgos (ESP)/La Richardais (FRA) – The University of Burgos was entrusted with testing the patented Soft-Spot™^® foundation solution from CTE Wind Civil Engineering for its functioning and safety at the end of 2021. The results of the test campaign, which ended at the end of May, confirmed what had already been demonstrated from many certification bodies worldwide and in various finite element models (FEM): The Soft-Spot™^® works and is safe.

Gapping occurs later

The Soft-Spot™^® changes the stress distribution on the ground compared to a standard slab foundation. Due to central EPS soft layer, higher soil stresses are applied under the remaining ring.

As a result, a wind turbine with a Soft-Spot™^® foundation will gap much later than a foundation without a soft layer, with the same foundation diameter. This increases the stability.

Over 1000 wind turbines…

…use the Soft-Spot™^® worldwide. The first project with the patented CTE Wind solution has been in place in 2019 in Thailand in a wind farm with 60 turbines. Each turbine has a hub height of 157 meters. Originally, a shallow foundation with 1,192 cubic meters of concrete and a diameter of 27.4 meters was planned.

But the excavation was not allowed to exceed more than 25 meters diagonally. Thanks to the soft layer under the foundation, the diameter could be reduced to 24.5 meters; minus 210 cubic meters of concrete (-18 percent) and 11 tons of reinforcing steel (-9 percent). The certifying body of DNV in Hamburg ensured that everything proceeded correctly and according to international standards during the design phase.

About CTE Wind Civil Engineering and the Soft-Spot™^®

The Soft-Spot™^® was developed by the French company CTE Wind Civil Engineering SAS. CTE Wind is an international engineering company specializing in the design and calculation of onshore foundations for wind turbines. The solution optimizes the existing and well-functioning system of shallow foundations by integrating known knowledge from structural engineering. Thus, a soft layer (EPS) is simply placed under the center of the foundation so that the forces of the wind turbine are transferred into the ground in a ring shape instead of onto the entire surface.

Since 2019 CTE Wind provides geotechnical engineering services to their clients. Over the last six months, Ana Bielza, Senior Engineer at CTE Wind Iberica has taken part in over 45 projects. We have asked her what she actually does and why her role is crucial for the foundation design of wind turbine generators (WTG).

Can you briefly explain to us what a specialist in geotechnical engineering like you does?
Ana Bielza: Geotechnicians apply scientific methods and engineering principles to predict the response of the ground to the foundation requirements. They then deliver this information to the civil engineers so they can design foundations accordingly.

What is the difference between common geotechnical engineering for bridges or building compared to the WTG-geotechnics?
Ana Bielza: There are not many differences. The ground has to be investigated with similar methods (drillings, geophysics, lab tests, etc.) and the same kind of parameters are needed. But the ground capacity is usually not what determines the foundation size, because most of the time the soil strength transmitted by a turbine foundation is not high. Besides, settlements in general are not important in this type of structures. But rotational stiffness can rather be the main ground parameter to manage and sometimes it can even set the foundation size.

CTE Wind offers his services worldwide

You worked on over 45 projects in six months, which is quite a lot. In which countries did you take a look at the ground?
Ana Bielza: Yes, there were many. It looks like our services are very appreciated by the customers (She smiles delighted). I worked for projects in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Spain, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkey, and Ukraine. Of course, every country has its peculiarities. And I not only mean the different ground types you can find but also how the different investigations that are conducted and how the results are delivered.

Looking back on these last months, what were the challenges? Can you maybe share one or two projects with us?
Ana Bielza: Challenging projects are usually the ones located on recent soils in seismic areas and near to the shore (high water table). For example, we have done several basic designs for a huge project in India with 1000 wind turbines, located on a saline desertic zone most of the year. But during the monsoon season the landscape becomes a swamp, with water at ground level. It is a region with an extreme seismic risks, on a recent granular soil (potentially liquefiable) and very aggressive to the concrete. We had to analyze the ground with just four boreholes in an area for 1000 turbines!

Sounds like fun. As far as we know, there are no known cases of significant damage from liquefaction in wind farms. So, how did you solve this problem?
Ana Bielza: Well, with only four drillings for such a huge area, it was mandatory to be conservative, therefore, and according to the client, we worked with two possible scenarios. We hope they were representative for the situation in most of the future turbine positions. The civil engineer then follows our specifications and designs the foundations accordingly with piles.

Trust is an important key factor

Could you tell us about another project?
Ana Bielza: Another challenging project has been the one in a country in South America, a wind farm with over 40 turbines. This was a constructive design where we had also drafted the geotechnical study from a factual report given by the customer, with 45 boreholes, 80 trial pits and 46 geophysical tests as well as an important amount of laboratory tests. The ground was good, a consolidated gravely soil -a conglomerate-, but seemed to be prone to suffer some dissolution because it had salt in its matrix.

What does it mean exactly?
Ana Bielza: The matrix describes the different layers a soil can have. The salt in the matrix can be dissolved by heavy rain or ground water. But even if the ground suffers an hypothetical dissolution, the remaining gravely soil would show enough strength and rigidity to carry the WTG. Besides, there was no water at all in the area, it was in a desert area.

Good conditions. What was the problem then?
Ana Bielza: Yes, but the client was pressuring us to set down categorically that there was no risk of dissolution, and there was no possibility at all for buoyancy. The geotechnics of the project showed good conditions for our SOFT-SPOT® foundation, but the wind farm owner seemed to have unfounded fears and wanted us to affirm that there was zero risk in this area. But zero risk does not exist. It was tricky to explain why there are no risk but we had to write about an hypothetical dissolution. Luckily, we finally came to an understanding. (ctewind)