CTE Wind commissioned the Spanish University of Burgos to carry out a series of tests with the Soft-Spot™^®. The structural tests are intended to prove once again if and how the resource-saving wind turbine foundation solution for “onshore” wind turbines works.

Burgos (ESP)/La Richardais (FRA) – The University of Burgos was entrusted with testing the patented Soft-Spot™^® foundation solution from CTE Wind Civil Engineering for its functioning and safety at the end of 2021. The results of the test campaign, which ended at the end of May, confirmed what had already been demonstrated from many certification bodies worldwide and in various finite element models (FEM): The Soft-Spot™^® works and is safe.

Gapping occurs later

The Soft-Spot™^® changes the stress distribution on the ground compared to a standard slab foundation. Due to central EPS soft layer, higher soil stresses are applied under the remaining ring.

As a result, a wind turbine with a Soft-Spot™^® foundation will gap much later than a foundation without a soft layer, with the same foundation diameter. This increases the stability.

Over 1000 wind turbines…

…use the Soft-Spot™^® worldwide. The first project with the patented CTE Wind solution has been in place in 2019 in Thailand in a wind farm with 60 turbines. Each turbine has a hub height of 157 meters. Originally, a shallow foundation with 1,192 cubic meters of concrete and a diameter of 27.4 meters was planned.

But the excavation was not allowed to exceed more than 25 meters diagonally. Thanks to the soft layer under the foundation, the diameter could be reduced to 24.5 meters; minus 210 cubic meters of concrete (-18 percent) and 11 tons of reinforcing steel (-9 percent). The certifying body of DNV in Hamburg ensured that everything proceeded correctly and according to international standards during the design phase.

About CTE Wind Civil Engineering and the Soft-Spot™^®

The Soft-Spot™^® was developed by the French company CTE Wind Civil Engineering SAS. CTE Wind is an international engineering company specializing in the design and calculation of onshore foundations for wind turbines. The solution optimizes the existing and well-functioning system of shallow foundations by integrating known knowledge from structural engineering. Thus, a soft layer (EPS) is simply placed under the center of the foundation so that the forces of the wind turbine are transferred into the ground in a ring shape instead of onto the entire surface.

Get ready for another WindEurope event in Bilbao, Spain, with a full exhibition & high-level conference, showcasing the latest in onshore and offshore wind!

The event is a great opportunity for interested EPC/CBoP-experts to meet our dedicated engineering and sales team to learn more about CTE Wind’s civil engineering and foundation expertise and to talk about future business opportunities. Meet the foundation experts at the Booth 3-B46.

PRENDRE RENDEZ-VOUS

The event will take place in Basque city Bilbao, home of CTE Wind Ibérica ( Enrique Martínez Camarero & Pekka Maunu ) on 5-7 April 2022

Do not hesitate to contact us to organize a meeting. See you soon in Bilbao.

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New Australian sales representative ensures greater customer service. Michael Wolff will be the first point of contact for all Australian customers.

Perth, WA / La Richardais, France —

CTE Wind International is with the appointment of Michael WOLFF, Professional Engineer MIEAust, in Perth WA, Australia represented on five continents.

Thanks to Mr. Wolff’s recruitment, the expert in foundation design for wind turbines is pushing ahead with its growth strategy in Australia. Backed-up by the headquarters in France, all customers in Australia and Asian-Pacific region will receive faster service and support from CTE Wind’s team.

About CTE Wind International

CTE Wind Civil Engineering is an international engineering consulting firm specialized in the design of onshore wind turbine foundations. CTE Wind has been active in the wind energy sector since 2003.

As of 2021, CTE Wind has designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations for over 22,500 turbines in 73 countries. CTE Wind has offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, USA and Asia. Most recently, the internationally successful company opened its North American office in 2020 in Denver CO, USA.

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 in France.

CTE Wind designed the deep foundation and anchor cage for a NRG Patagonia wind turbine in Argentina. The 1.5 MW will help Castelli, a town with 10,000 residents, to grow their sustainable energy production.

Buenos Aires (ARG) – Although Argentina’s wind energy has been on hold for a while, there still is a demand for wind industry specialists such as CTE Wind to extend expertise on wind projects. Our sister company, CTE Wind Ibérica, received an interesting request from the Cooperativa de Electricidad Castelli (CUECCA) for a wind energy project located 185 km from the city of Buenos Aires. The cooperative’s main goal is to grow sustainable energy production in Castelli, a smaller town with about 10,000 residents. In striving to meet its goals, CUECCA moved forward to install a 1.5 MW wind turbine from the local WTG manufacturer NRG Patagonia (NRGP).

CTE Wind has been selected by NRGP for the foundation design. Due to the unique soil conditions, a deep foundation with piles was designed. CTE Wind also contributed the optimized design of the anchor cage, providing substantial savings in steel reinforcement. Enrique MARTINEZ, Commercial Manager of CTE Wind Ibérica said: « We are thrilled to work on this project. Even if it is a small project, we want to find the best possible solution for the customer. »

Design and construction in due time

Recently, an important project milestone has been reached: breaking ground and the beginning of the foundation construction. « Every step has been done in due time. This is also one of the reasons why customers keep coming back to CTE Wind», added MARTINEZ.

The 82m rotor for CUECCA´s NRGP 82 was unloaded not long ago in the Port of Zarate, Argentina. The rotor was manufactured in the US. The 82 is the tallest model so far from NRGP with a hub height of 80 meters and a rotor diameter of 82 meters. Soon 4,000 households of Castelli will enjoy green energy from their own wind turbine.

If you want to learn more about CTE Wind International and CTE Winds SOLUTIONS please visite OUR-PROJECTS & OUR-NEWS – sections. For more Information about OUR-SERVICES please CONTACT US.

A pile foundation transfers the WTG loads to the lower-lying ground, thereby providing an overall support to the structure. Geotechnical experience is a must for designing wind turbine foundation pile. CTE Wind designed piles with length varying from 10 to 70 meters.

Foundation piles transfer loads from the wind turbine foundation to lower-lying ground, thereby providing overall support to the structure. These piles carry concentrated loads and are subject to fatigue. As such, careful assessment of geotechnical conditions and proper interpretation of the soil reports’ drilling logs and laboratory data are critical, which is why CTE Wind has senior geotechnical engineers working on wind farm projects worldwide.

CTE Wind’s pile foundation designs solutions consider driven, bored and drilled piles as well as vibro piles and Franki piles. Once the pile solution has been chosen, the length and diameters, as well as the stiffness of the pile and the loads on top of it have to be determined. The compression, the tensile and the fatigue loads are taken into account to establish the calculation report and the final drawings stating the rebars and concrete volumes.

Piles for intertidal nearshore foundations

In current projects CTE Wind has designed pile foundations with lengths varying from 10 to 70 meters which is exceptional. The latter was designed and built in Asia in different nearshore projects on an intertidal sea-zone. CTE Wind also provided pile designs in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Brazil, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, and Finland to name a few.

If you want to learn more about CTE Wind International and CTE Winds PILE FOUNDATIONS please visite OUR-PROJECTS & OUR-NEWS – sections. For more Information about OUR-SERVICES please CONTACT US.

The most common foundation scenario for concrete towers features a cellar. Since 2010, CTE Wind has provided foundation solutions for concrete towers in different variants. One such foundation solution is the hollow foundation solution.

One critical factor to be considered in a wind farm project is the type of wind turbine tower.  There are primarily two categories of wind turbine towers available in the market: tubular steel and concrete tower. The mix of both types is a hybrid tower. Independent from the selected tower system, the increased prevalence of higher hub heights leads to larger tower bases which challenges the tower manufacturers to develop new solutions or systems.

In addition to the various pros and cons of tubular steel versus concrete to be considered, the choice of the tower has an impact on the foundation. A steel tower nowadays almost always comes with an anchor cage. On the other hand, concrete towers need a tensioning system usually using cables anchored in the foundation. CTE Wind Civil Engineering has provided solutions for concrete towers in different variants for the last 11 years and counting.

Let us take a closer look at the different parts of the concrete tower foundation:

Foundation design of the outer shape

Like the toes and the ball of your feet, the outer shape prevents the wind turbine from tipping over. The foundation for concrete towers can be designed as standard gravity or deep foundation with piles. To save resources, CTE Winds Soft-Spot® solution (patent pending) or a ribbed (star) foundation could also be applied. Moreover, working with different tower manufacturers requires consideration for further variable construction criteria. CTE Wind is specialized in its knowledge and experience in factoring in said variables, such as the pre-stressed or post-tensioned cable system.

The foundation from inside

The most common concrete tower foundation scenario from the inside point of view features a cellar where cables are anchored and cable tensioning tools are placed. This kind of solution is often referred to as a “Hollow Foundation Solution” as shown in the picture. This design has a cellar to allow for access into the foundation and to tension the anchor cables of the tower. The reinforcement design for the hollow foundation solution is also substantially different from that of standard gravity foundations. Besides the customized interior formwork, special attention has to be paid to the design of the anchoring bulkheads where concentrated loads are applied to the concrete in very limited spaces.

Another option to anchor the tower to the foundation is to install protruding bolts out of the pedestal and into the tower where the cables can be connected. In this solution, the cellar is not necessary. The bolts are easy to access for tensioning. Lastly, and more seldomly used, is the combination of the concrete tower and foundation into a monolithic structure where only classic reinforcements are used but no tensioning elements are needed.  This type of solution can unfortunately lead to concrete cracks at the bottom tower section.

If you want to learn more about CTE Wind International and CTE Winds CONCRETE TOWER FOUNDATIONS SOLUTION please visite OUR-PROJECTS & OUR-NEWS – sections. For more Information about OUR-SERVICES please CONTACT US.

Porto Alegre (BRA) – CTE WIND Brasil, part of CTE Wind International, has been active in the Brazilian market since 2005. After 2.5 GW installed wind turbine power or over 1000 designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations the next years highlight will be the consolidation of the patented Soft-Spot® solution in the Brazilian market. The result of the astonishing solution is the significant optimization of the bill of quantities compared to a standard gravity foundation: Savings in concrete, decrease of the foundation diameter (less earthwork) and total weight reduction of reinforcement bars.

The Soft-spot® is implemented in various countries around the world. Over 50 wind farms around the globe, 750 wind turbines are using this resource saving solution. Argentina, Chile, France, Lithuania, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherland, Russia, Serbia, Sweden Thailand and Brazil. With two new projects, one under development in the state of Bahia with 52 foundations scheduled for construction in early 2021, and an other already finished wind farm with 37 Vestas wind turbines V150 4.2MW in Rio Grande do Norte, things are on his best way to accomplish CTE Winds goals to be responsive, efficient and reliable worldwide.

To learn more about the patented Soft-Spot® solution please contact our Brazilian sales team in Porto Alegre or go and visite our Solutions section.

If you want to learn more about CTE Wind Brasil you can read more articles about projects and news in OUR-PROJECTS & OUR-NEWS – sections. For more Information about OUR-SERVICES please CONTACT US.

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.

Dear friends of CTE Wind,

Are wind turbine foundations important to you?

Flawless since 2003, the international civil and geotechnical engineering team of CTE Wind brings the most responsive, efficient and reliable foundation solutions to the wind energy business. CTE Wind is headquartered in France and has offices in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Asia and since this year also in the US. As a true global company, we can serve all our customers around the globe with the same responsiveness and know-how.

Regardless of power and hub heights, our consulting, analysis and design services for onshore wind turbine foundations are always adapted to the specific soil conditions. That is how we achieved to design, value-engineer or peer-review foundations for over 17 500 turbines in 67 countries. Our ongoing R+D activities and DNV-GL certified design method defines ourselves as real experts in foundations design for wind turbines.

Do you have questions about wind turbine foundations?

We attach to this mail our new company brochure. Our Sales-Team and engineers are there for any subsequent exchange, question, advise or project reference you need. Please get in touch with us we are looking forward to your answer.

                                                                                                                                            Sincerely yours

CTE Wind Civil Engineering Team

The success story of CTE Wind Ibérica started early in 2018 and had huge positive impact on the entire CTE Wind group. With 100 projects in 3 years the Spanish office designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations around 3000 wind turbines.

Bilbao, ESP / La Richardais, FRA — It was first the will to show more presence in the Spanish speaking wind energy markets that motivated Alexander MARTIN, CEO of CTE Wind International, to open an office with a «local team» in Spain. The Iberian branch was set up in initially in Basque city Bilbao by gathering a group of experienced engineers both in the wind industry and the Spanish markets, following the CTE Wind main principle of trying to be the best in class. A power move that very quickly proved to be profitable.

Understandably, the beginnings were focused on getting the company acknowledge by the most important players in Spanish and Latin American markets. After many business trips, meetings, presentations and thanks to the market knowledge of CTE Wind Ibérica team members and their reputation, in combination with the CTE Wind brand recognition, the first projects came to CTE Wind Ibérica very soon. Client’s loyalty was only possible thank to the excellent job of the engineering team to fulfill the customers’ expectations in terms of quality and optimization. That is and has be CTE Winds best publicity.

Three years later, CTE Wind is proud to announce the main figures of this short but vertiginous path: The Iberian office performed geotechnical consultancy activities, designed, value-engineered or peer-reviewed foundations for 101 wind farms across 14 different countries together with 36 companies that rewarded CTE Wind Ibérica with their trust. Close to 3.000 wind turbines, from 11 different turbine manufacturers are running smoothly thanks to CTE Winds contribution in the field of foundation design for wind turbines and geotechnical services. CTE Wind wants to thank all of our current clients for their trust during this time. You can rely on us: We share your passion.

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.