A DEDICATED ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT READY TO ATTEND THE CUSTOMER NEEDS
GES Engineering Department has the capability, experience and Know-how needed for the performance of a reliable basic and detailed engineering of both solar or wind project. Additionally GES is able to provide technical assistance, starting at a very early stage of the development of the plant. Currently GES Engineering Department is formed by more than 30 employees, most of them engineers, focused on different disciplines.
GES is able to designs large turn-key projects working under different regulations for projects with diverse scopes, from the complete EPC, to BOP for wind farms and BOS for solar plants. GES has been also involved in special projects like the synchronous closure for the reduction of transient perturbations in capacitor banks and shunt reactors or power electronics systems to compensate the reactive power (STATCOM)
GES Engineering Department supports the customer form the development phase through the completion of different surveys and studies, to the tender and construction phase.
OWN ENGINEERING TO DESIGN ANY WIND OR
SOLAR PLANT
COMPREHENSIVE WIND AND SOLAR PLANT DESIGN
GES plans and designs all the infrastructure included in the wind farm or solar plant. From the complete substation, including all civil and electromechanical works and the control and protection for the substation. The wind farm design includes all civil works design (roads and platforms base on the WGT specifications and the topographical survey, WGT foundation, and geotechnical recommendations) as well as electrical works design (load flow, voltage drop, short-circuit and reactive P-Q guaranteed curves). For the solar plants the scope includes the PV plant modelization (definition of the layout, modules configuration and PR estimation), civil works (roads designs, earth movement calculations, geotechnical recommendations and hydrological analysis) and electrical works design (low and medium voltage cable sizing, inverters selection, and reactive P-Q guaranteed curves).
GES can also provide detailed engineering carrying out topographical and geotechnical surveys, pull our tests, hydrological studies and drawing systems sizing, earth movement, and electrical calculations.
RELATED PROJECTS
Ilumina PV Plant
Client: AES- Solar
Location: Guayana, Puerto Rico
Power: 23.67 MW DC
Execution time: September 2011 – May 2012
It was necessary to understand and adapt to the Puerto Rican culture, and to go through a permitting process with which we were unfamiliar, while, for the public authorities, it was necessary to work in an unfamiliar sector. Few local people had any experience in renewable energy. The deadline was tight, so tight that construction work had to start before the design work was completed. Because the project was located in the hurricane corridor, the entire plant needed to be able to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Many of the GES project managers speak Spanish and English, which facilitated communication with local contractors and government officials. Since Ilumina was the first project of its kind on the island, the permitting process was new to all parties. GES and AES Solar worked closely with local authorities to develop the necessary standards and criteria. GES developed a detailed implementation plan, and was able to respond quickly to problems as they arose. With extensive research and effort, it was possible to mitigate the impact of adverse weather conditions (for example, we used a fixed ground-mounted system capable of withstanding hurricane-class wind speeds).
The project has provided a number of benefits to Puerto Rico. Two hundred jobs have been created during the construction phase. In addition, the plant helps provide power to more than 6,500 homes (through a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority). Thanks to the project, the island is also able to reduce its dependence on oil, which traditionally accounted for 70 per cent of its total energy use.
P.E. Oaxaca-I
Client: Vestas
Location: Santo Domingo del intenio (Oaxaca, México)
Power: 101 MW
Wind turbine: V-90.2 MW
Schedule: September 2010 – July 2012
Succeeding with the first phase of a huge new 400 MW wind farm in Mexico
Strong and consistent winds meant that the assembly of the wind turbine components would be particularly challenging. In order to build a good working rapport with local staff, a clear understanding of the indigenous culture was vital. Due to its terrain, its isolation and its social mix, this area of Mexico is a notoriously difficult environment to work in, and many civil engineering projects are subject to long delays.
In order to meet the tight timescales, we completed much of the assembly at nighttime when the strong winds die down. We worked particularly hard to learn about this region of Mexico – in order to understand the local culture and the outlook of the indigenous populations. We gradually introduced the local staff to the project, and worked particularly closely with local technicians – in order to successfully transfer our own knowledge and skills. We worked hard on building collaboriation and rapport across the extended team, and ensured that they could call upon the right level of resource.
Due to the speed and efficiency of our assembly processes, we were able to complete the project more quickly than had been anticipated – which led to a substantial saving in the cost of the crane rental. Also, the project was completed without any accidents. And the wind farm can now be relied upon to deliver more than 4,000 wind hours each year.
Renaico & Los Buenos Aires W.F
Location: Chile
Power: 112 MW
Execution schedule: November 2015 – November 2016
Cooperating with the local community
Both wind farms were placed in Mapuche territory, native Araucanians. Accesses to the wind farms were complicated. There was a flooding area in Los Buenos Aires, that made the foundations works very hard. Expediting procedures of the customer and some deadlines in the equipment deliveries made the schedule compliance difficult. Three new subcontractors have been hired to work at the substation. More experienced companies were overflow, due to the high demand of the market. Crane movements between platforms needed to be done with partial or total crane dismantling.
GES worked together with the community. Sand and gravel were bought at the local quarry and a Mapuche women cooperative was created for the services at the dining room. It was necessary to build two bridges to access the site. Water was pumped 24 hours a day to make the foundation works possible at the flooding area. Equipment deadlines have been renegotiated with suppliers and air transport was used to shorten deadlines. A very strength coordination was necessary to work with substructure to ensure the quality of the work. Road survey was continuously done, always trying to reduce the number of hours for the crane movements.
Successfully completion of the wind farm without accidents and with satisfactory quality standards.
