Technical Expertise

Analysis of wind turbine designs, test data, performance data, wind resource data, or cost data requires an appreciation of the subtleties, complexities and limitations of the technology and analysis tools. GEC's unique combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience ensures insightful analysis with power curves, project performance, causes of failure, loads and stress, failure modes and effects, certification, wind resource assessment, and economic analysis.

EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

• Project and turbine due diligence studies
• Deployment and support of turbines in the U.S., China and India
• Design and test of wind turbines and related components
• Specification and integration of controls, hydraulic and electrical systems
• Certification testing and documentation
• Performance assessment
• Project and turbine acceptance testing
• Lender's engineer
• Technical project configuration control and documentation
• Insurance claims technical support
• Litigation support and dispute resolution
• Legal, financial, utility, manufacturing and government clients

GEC personnel understand the financial and business aspects of the industry and the importance of combining technical excellence with business reality to creatively solve problems.

PROJECT ENGINEER

Whether working for the debt or equity interests in a project, a project engineer needs to have a thorough knowledge of the technology as well as an understanding of the business and financial aspects of the project. GEC personnel have been responsible for all aspects of the project engineer's role including:

• Due diligence of turbine technology, project budgets, schedules and performance estimates
• Technical review of warranties, purchase agreements, acceptance test plans and operations and maintenance agreements
• Project acceptance
• Operations and maintenance reporting
• Insurance claims technical support
• Litigation support and dispute resolution

DESIGN

Functional and economic turbine and component designs require the experience to understand problems, the ability to develop solutions and the tools to work efficiently. GEC's team can assist with loads development, configuration comparisons, blade and detailed component design, value engineering, and local sourcing. Members of the GEC team have developed design solutions for wind turbines from 8 kW to 3.2 MW and are familiar with the IEC and Germanischer Lloyd requirements for certification. In addition to wind turbine structural and mechanical design, GEC has considerable experience specifying and integrating wind turbine control, hydraulic, and electrical systems to ensure all design requirements are defined and satisfied. GEC personnel have designed hoisting equipment, test fixtures, ship landing systems, printing presses, marine equipment, and manufacturing tooling. GEC's state-of-the-art SolidWorks software allows rapid design development, presentation of 3-D images and export of models for finite element analysis. GEC also uses CADKEY software for drawing development.

TESTING

GEC personnel are experienced in all aspects of wind energy design testing and verification. From test plan development to test execution and data analysis, GEC can provide complete and fully documented independent test programs to support design, certification or problem resolution. GEC also owns three Advanced Data Acquisition Systems to support testing. Typical tests planned and conducted include:

• Performance tests
• Acceptance tests
• Certification testing and support
• Load measurement
• Material testing
• Wind tunnel testing
• Finite element model validation testing
• Systems integration testing

TYPICAL APPLICATION OF CAPABILITIES

The GEC team's experience and capabilities can be applied to:

• Project technical and economic due diligence
• Field problem investigation and resolution
• Technical support for dispute resolution
• Project feasibility assessment
• Developing dynamics models and data analysis software
• Evaluation and enhancement of configuration control and documentation procedures
• Component or turbine specification, design, analysis, test and certification
• International technology transfer program design and evaluation
• Managing and planning the transition from prototype to production
• Design and test due diligence

GEC's Pacific Northwest location provides ready access to personnel and facilities supporting the region's aerospace, industrial, and high technology industries.

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© 2008 DNV Global Energy Concepts Inc.

Headquarters: 1809 7th Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle, WA  98101
Phone: 206-387-4200  Fax: 206-387-4201

East Coast: 116 John Street, Lowell, MA 01852
Phone: 978-275-3880  Fax: 978-275-3887

Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

Send requests and comments to: gec@globalenergyconcepts.com