Construction Magazine November 2018 | Page 145

NORTH AMERICA only 110 cubic yards of concrete which translates to as much as 40 % less concrete and 40 % less steel as opposed to a gravity spread for the same size wind turbine .
“ It ’ s a significant cost saving in the industry . Especially when we ’ re looking down the barrel of an administration with a trigger finger on tariffs , which effects the cost of the steel and other construction materials used in the foundations . Since the pier requires substantially less steel than the spread we reduce the amplitude of this kind of market volatility ,” says Loftis .
Through the success of working with NextEra , Terracon was introduced to a number of engineering , procurement and construction ( EPC ) firms including market leaders like Blattner Energy . NextEra solicited the largest tender of wind projects in North American wind history last year . Blattner Energy won all of the projects and decided to build the majority of them using Terracon ’ s P & H Tensionless Pier Foundation . Terracon was retained to design more than 550 foundations for that round of projects .
For Loftis , this is the clearest representation of the paradigm shift that the market was craving . “ There has been a paradigm shift , moving from the gravity spread foundation
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Securing the rebar hoops which maintain anchor bolt spacing
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