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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.

Experts in Foundation Design

From 1 to 12 MW wind turbines

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance in 2019 developers worldwide have globally
commissioned a little over 45GW of onshore wind turbines. CTE Wind designed, valueengineered
or peer-reviewed foundations close to 1,500 WTG-foundations around the globe,
which represents around 5 GW of the installed onshore wind energy in 2019. A good result
for the 30 engineers working together worldwide. CTE Wind is an international engineering
consulting firm, headquartered in France, and specialized in the analysis and design of
onshore wind turbine foundations. Its engineering services lead to inventive foundation
solutions for wind turbines. In Rotterdam, they have designed the foundation for GE’s giant
12 MW Haliade X. But they are also with familiar with smaller 1 MW machines carried by
wooden towers. «Thanks to our experienced civil, structural and geotechnical senior
engineers the design of those wind turbine foundations worldwide are only a little challenge
to us», said Alexander MARTIN, CEO of CTE Wind International, «regardless if it is for new
turbine models from the top manufacturers or less common WTG-models from smaller or
local manufacturers», he added.

Biggest wind park in France, Poland and Spain

The sum of all experiences made since 2003 is the reason why CTE Wind’s engineering
team with offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, USA and Asia are often the first
choice for OEMS, wind park developers and EPC/BoP contractors. «That is how we
achieved to do over 17,500 wind turbines in 67 countries and without any failures», continues
MARTIN. One of CTE Winds main goals is to deliver foundation designs that optimizes the
use of resources and help to save concrete and reinforcement steel. Such a solution is the
patented SOFT-SPOT®, a gravity foundation with a soft layer under the anchor cage. Each
project receives an adapted design solution to the specific soil conditions. In Finland CTE
Wind designed a rock anchor solution when its engineers also designed a near-shore
foundation in Asias Mekong-Delta. «The trust of our customers leads us not only to
design special and new solutions but also the foundations for the biggest wind parks in
France, Spain and Poland. We are thrilled when we can play an important role in a wind farm
project. This shows the confidence of our customers in our designs and is also an
encouragement for us to continue to perform well», he ends.

The SOFT-SPOT® was developed by CTE Wind’s engineering team and is implemented in various countries around the world. This foundation design optimizes the use of resources and helps to save concrete, reinforcement bars and less surface for the foundation. This reduces the time and costs.

La Richardais (FRA) – CTE Wind has already developed and implemented some projects since the launch of the SOFT-SPOT®. Several hundreds of the new foundation design are built around the world : Brazil, France, Lithuania, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherland, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and Thailand to name a few. As a result of his astonishing design the projects allow savings in concrete volume up to 15%, reduction of foundation diameter and total weight of reinforcement bars of 2-5%. In some cases what is even more important than the material costs is the available space : with SOFT-SPOT® you need less surface for the foundation. This reduces the time and excavation costs.

Layer of soft material

CTE WIND Civil Engineering presents to the market a new foundation system for wind turbines, a WTG shallow gravity foundation with SOFT-SPOT®. Through placing a layer of soft material below the central part of the foundation, the slab will effectively act as a ring foundation with respect to the soil-structure interaction. The bearing pressure of the WTG is concentrated at the annular contact surface closer to the edge of the slab. This increases the lever arm of the stabilizing moment. Therefore, the foundation diameter can be reduced in comparison to a standard foundation solution.

Simply the most economical foundation

Thanks to SOFT-SPOT® intelligent design less excavation work is needed. This reduces the machine costs. A major point is that no additional training of site workers is required for the construction of the soft layer. The construction is very easy and the material for the soft layer can be purchased cheaply all over the world. Or as one of CTE Wind’s client pointed out: It is simply the most economical foundation you can choose. (ctewind)

Please contact us if you are interested in knowing more about CTE Wind’s SOFT-SPOT®