TERRACON

strengths and that is in geo-design , and more importantly , finding where we as a business can offer the most efficacy and value for our clients .” The wind energy generation market is an increasingly growing one . Loftis notes that 50 % of the capex within the construction cycle of a wind farm goes into the turbines themselves , with the remaining 50 % going into “ balance of plant ” ( BOP ) – roadways , conductor systems and other infrastructure elements .

The key for Terracon is finding where it can add value into that construction cycle , and Loftis has located it in the foundations .

At a time where the focus on wind energy generation is growing , the result of this increased demand has been to increase the size of the turbines , the height of the tower , and the length of the blades . In turn , the foundation system grows larger and more expensive .

The market is moving towards larger turbines for land based applications ; from a typical size in the 2 MW family to turbines rated at 3 to 3.5 MWs . Traditionally , the turbines have been constructed with a Gravity Spread foundation design , but with the additional mass at the top of the tower from these larger machines the industry was ripe for

a paradigm shift . “ We needed to introduce a means of reducing the huge quantities of concrete and steel required for the foundation systems associated with the preference for bigger turbines ”, says Loftis .

- “ 50 % of the CAPEX is BOP , and 25 % of that is in the foundations , so the challenge then became working out what we can do to optimise the foundation design in order to reduce the overall cost of the construction ,” he says .

52 December 2017