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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)

CTE Wind Expands Down Under: New Office Coming soon

Exciting news from the “Outback”! CTE Wind opens its doors in Australia, establishing a dedicated team ready to harness the wind energy potential. Joining forces with our Australian Sales Representative, Michael Wolff, is the experienced Ryan O’Flaherty.

Notably, Ryan brings essential local Professional Engineer (P.E.) licenses to the table, empowering our team to efficiently approve cost-effective foundation designs. Based on the picturesque Gold Coast, Queensland, on the other side of the Australian continent, Ryan’s strategic location positions us well for regional impact.

About CTE Wind International

CTE Wind Civil Engineering is an international engineering consulting firm specialized in the design of onshore wind turbine foundations. CTE Wind has been active in the wind energy sector since 2003.

As of 2023, CTE Wind has designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations for over 28,500 turbines in 75 countries. CTE Wind has offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, USA and Asia. Most recently, the internationally successful company opened its North American office in 2020 in Denver CO, USA.

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 in France.

The success story of CTE Wind Ibérica started early in 2018 and had huge positive impact on the entire CTE Wind group. With 100 projects in 3 years the Spanish office designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations around 3000 wind turbines.

Bilbao, ESP / La Richardais, FRA — It was first the will to show more presence in the Spanish speaking wind energy markets that motivated Alexander MARTIN, CEO of CTE Wind International, to open an office with a «local team» in Spain. The Iberian branch was set up in initially in Basque city Bilbao by gathering a group of experienced engineers both in the wind industry and the Spanish markets, following the CTE Wind main principle of trying to be the best in class. A power move that very quickly proved to be profitable.

Understandably, the beginnings were focused on getting the company acknowledge by the most important players in Spanish and Latin American markets. After many business trips, meetings, presentations and thanks to the market knowledge of CTE Wind Ibérica team members and their reputation, in combination with the CTE Wind brand recognition, the first projects came to CTE Wind Ibérica very soon. Client’s loyalty was only possible thank to the excellent job of the engineering team to fulfill the customers’ expectations in terms of quality and optimization. That is and has be CTE Winds best publicity.

Three years later, CTE Wind is proud to announce the main figures of this short but vertiginous path: The Iberian office performed geotechnical consultancy activities, designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations for 101 wind farms across 14 different countries together with 36 companies that rewarded CTE Wind Ibérica with their trust. Close to 3.000 wind turbines, from 11 different turbine manufacturers are running smoothly thanks to CTE Winds contribution in the field of foundation design for wind turbines and geotechnical services. CTE Wind wants to thank all of our current clients for their trust during this time. You can rely on us: We share your passion.

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 participates at the French national conference Colloque Nationale in Paris with an own stand.

The 12th National Wind Energy Conference, the major event of the wind energy industry in France, will take place on October 12 and 13, 2022 at the Parc Floral de Paris: wind energy professionals, experts, scientists, elected officials, associations and youth representatives will be gathered to continue the movement initiated 28 years ago by our industry: building the energy transition of our country.

For this 12th edition, the event continues, like our industry, to grow and diversify: more booths, more public, a greater diversity of actors for a greater cohesion between all those who participate every day to make, concretely the energy transition.

The road is still long, but the path is clear and the cause is righteous.

SCHEDULE A MEETING

Alexander MARTIN CEO of CTE Wind France, Binh Tran, CTO, and Sergio CARÈ-LUCAS Business Developer of de CTE Wind International will be present at the largest French conference dedicated to the new trends of the wind energy market in France. This is an excellent opportunity for interested companies to meet our sales 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 Paris.

Contactez-us

CTE Wind Asia has been awarded with its 3^rd nearshore project. To this day, the Asiaese expert in foundation design has calculated 27 nearshore wind turbine foundations.

Hanoi (VNM) /La Richardais (FRA) – CTE Wind International branch office in Asia (CTV) captures the spirit of the times with its new design for nearshore foundation for wind turbine generator. With its 3^rd project in the intertidal zone in Mekong delta of Asia CTV won again the customers’ trust. This is already the 3^rd  project since 2019. With 18 wind turbines and a total power 75MW this project has increased the total of final designs made by CTV to 27. The other two nearshore projects are located in theThanh Hai and in Vung Tau provinces.

New design allows up to 30 % savings

All CTE Wind’s nearshore foundation designs allow to save 30 percent of the construction costs compared to similar projects due to the astonishing design. For the 4.1 MW machines CTE Wind Asia has designed a foundation with 550m3 of concrete, 120 tons of steel and 44 piles. The piles have an average length of 60 meters and are hammered into the muddy nearshore underground. In fact, the geotechnics were very challenging and the piles were also designed in-house to withstand tides, waves and ship movements close to the platforms.

If you want to learn more about CTE Wind International you can read more articles about projects and news in OUR-PROJECTS & OUR-NEWS – sections. For more Information about OUR-SERVICES please CONTACT US.

Dear friends of CTE Wind,

Are wind turbine foundations important to you?

Flawless since 2003, the international civil and geotechnical engineering team of CTE Wind brings the most responsive, efficient and reliable foundation solutions to the wind energy business. CTE Wind is headquartered in France and has offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Asia and since this year also in the US. As a true global company, we can serve all our customers around the globe with the same responsiveness and know-how.

Regardless of power and hub heights, our consulting, analysis and design services for onshore wind turbine foundations are always adapted to the specific soil conditions. That is how we achieved to design, value-engineer or peer-review foundations for over 17 500 turbines in 67 countries. Our ongoing R+D activities and DNV-GL certified design method defines ourselves as real experts in foundations design for wind turbines.

Do you have questions about wind turbine foundations?

We attach to this mail our new company brochure. Our Sales-Team and engineers are there for any subsequent exchange, question, advise or project reference you need. Please get in touch with us we are looking forward to your answer.

                                                                                                                                            Sincerely yours

CTE Wind Civil Engineering Team