Garrad Hassan releases GH WindFarmer v3.6 - 10th Dec 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) releases new version 3.6 of its wind farm design software, GH WindFarmer. The leading software package with its powerful features is available in 10 languages and with high quality global support.
This new version provides even more, exclusive features including a detailed uncertainty analysis, expanded site conditions analysis and self-learning tutorials.
The new features in Version 3.6 of GH WindFarmer enable the user to:
If you would like a Demonstration CD please use our contact form. GH advise Queensland Government on AUD 460 million wind farm sale to Transfield Services Infrastructure Ltd. - 5th Dec 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) advised the Queensland Government of Australia on the AUD 460 million sale of their five Australian wind farms including a wind farm development pipeline to Transfield Services Infrastructure Limited.The wind farms are owned by two Queensland Government Owned Corporations (GOC), Stanwell Corporation Limited and Tarong Energy Corporation. The Queensland Government is selling their 177 MW wind farm portfolio to assist with the financing of the Queensland Government’s “Queensland Climate Change Fund”. The fund will invest in a range of future climate change initiatives. Garrad Hassan acted as the Technical Advisor to Queensland Government’s Treasury Department. This transaction was run from Garrad Hassan’s Australian office in Melbourne and the team was headed by Graham White and David Millar with support from GH Australia and New Zealand staff. Andrew Garrad,. CEO of the Garrad Hassan Group said: “We are delighted to have been able to support the Queensland Government in this significant deal which is a landmark for the Australian wind energy industry. It shows the strength of the international GH network through which we are able to support international deals with high level local expertise. This deal brings GH’s merger and acquisition (M and A) advisory role in 2007 to more than €11 billion.” The wind farm assets being sold include Windy Hill Wind Farm near Ravenshoe in Queensland’s north, Emu Downs Wind Farm in Western Australia and Toora Wind Farm in the South Gippsland region of Victoria. The other operating wind farms are the Starfish Hill Wind Farm near Cape Jervis and the Mt Millar Wind Farm on the Eyre Peninsula, both in South Australia. Joao Cruz joins Garrad Hassan Marine Renewables Team - 28th Nov 2007In January 2008 Joao Cruz will join Garrad Hassan (GH), where he will lead wave energy activities within the GH Marine Renewables Group. Joao’s experience with research institutes and technology developers around Europe will further strengthen GH’s capabilities in the rapidly developing wave energy sector. Joao is well known in the wave energy industry with previous connections to IST-Technical University of Lisbon, The University of Edinburgh, Teamwork Technology (Archimedes Wave Swing) and more recently Pelamis Wave Power Ltd, where he was an active member of the Cost Reduction and Performance Enhancement Department. Joao’s expertise spans across resource assessment, numerical and experimental modelling of wave energy converters and development of tools in an operational environment. Joao brings with him a unique combination of R&D and field experience obtained in Portugal and in the UK at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). Recently Joao also edited a book entitled ‘Ocean Wave Energy’ (Springer-Verlag) which is one of the first textbooks in the field.
Robert Rawlinson-Smith, leader of the GH Marine Renewables Group, commented ‘Joao’s arrival clearly demonstrates GH’s aim to become a world leader in the provision of engineering consultancy services to the wave energy sector.‘ Garrad Hassan Group opens new office in Turkey - 19th Nov 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) announces the opening of a new office in Turkey. Garrad Hassan now has offices in 17 countries: Australia (Newcastle and Melbourne), Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Spain (Barcelona and Zaragoza), Turkey and The USA (San Diego, Austin, Peterborough and Portland). Andrew Garrad, Director of Garrad Hassan, comments on this development for the company
“Turkey has a fantastic wind resource, plenty of space and a good industrial infrastructure as well as a high demand for electricity. For these reasons Turkey is now a major centre of wind energy activity for the industry as a whole and, of course, for GH. Our experience throughout the world is that we must have a local office with local staff to provide the best possible service for our clients. In Turkey we have followed the model established for 16 other countries – it is very exciting. We have also produced our WindFarmer software in Turkish to celebrate the launch”
Sule Erkoc will be running the GH office in Turkey, her contact details are: Email: info.tr@garradhassan.com Tel: +90 542 635 19 43 Address: Cumhuriyet Bulvari No:45 Kat:2/2-B, 35210, Konak, Izmir, Turkey Garrad Hassan release new version of GH Bladed - 1st Nov 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) is proud to release version v3.80 of GH Bladed, its wind turbine design software.Cutting edge developments include the new Hardware Test and the Advanced Transmission Interface Module options. New exclusive features are also now available in the Base and the Advanced Processing Modules. 
David Quarton, Company Director responsible for GH Bladed, comments on the release of v3.80 “We are delighted to launch this new version of GH Bladed. The new features available offer the users of GH Bladed improved capabilities for wind turbine modelling, simulation, post-processing and control system hardware testing. We remain determined to maintain GH Bladed as the leading wind turbine design tool throughout the industry. ” New features in the Base Module
New features in the Advanced Processing module
New Advanced Transmission Interface module option
New Hardware Test module option allows control system hardware to be connected directly to Bladed simulations. Its key features enable the user to:
Garrad Hassan launches new Asset Management Group - 24th Oct 2007This month Garrad Hassan (GH) launches their new international Asset Management and Optimisation Services group, AMOS.
GH has analysed the operational performance of about 20% of the world’s wind farms. That experience has led to the development of a range of tools that can identify problems and areas for performance improvement. This well established service has now become a new specific business area: the Asset Management and Optimisation Services group, AMOS.
AMOS meets increasing global demand to optimise wind farm performance and maximise value in operating assets. The group does this through detailed analysis of data from standard SCADA systems, and management of wind farm operation and maintenance activities. GH has used data from all the common SCADA systems for this purpose. Andrew Garrad, CEO of Garrad Hassan Group comments on the launch of the new group “AMOS is the synthesis of a lot of what we do and have done for the last 25 years – our business is to understand wind energy data. There is enormous value in the operational data if you know where to look and GH does. AMOS will allow our clients to increase the income from their wind farms with little expense. It is exciting to see such immediate cash benefit from the application of some rigorous technical tools” AMOS offers a monitoring service, which regularly assesses the performance of wind farms for availability, power curve, wind speeds and revenues against budgeted levels. Guidance is offered to optimise and maintain performance levels of a wind farm to benefit the project owner and lender. Close interaction with the operator is a crucial part of running an efficient project and Garrad Hassan's extensive experience in this area is part and parcel of this service. AMOS links a wealth of experience in operating wind farms throughout Garrad Hassan’s international offices. Particularly active in asset management outside the UK are GH’s operations in Germany, Spain, Italy and the US. The AMOS team is headed by Keir Harman based in the UK. Keir has been working in the wind industry for over 10 years and has led this area of GH activity for the last five years. Find out more about our Asset Management and Optimisation Services group here. Garrad Hassan and Insensys announce collaboration for Individual Pitch Control - 25th Sep 2007Insensys, the leading provider of fibre optic load measurement systems for blades and Garrad Hassan the leading developer of pitch control algorithms have combined forces to develop an integrated package which enables turbine manufacturers to achieve significant reductions in rotor, shaft and tower loads.The collaboration is non exclusive and both organisations will continue to offer products and services independently of each other. "Our two businesses have been working together for some time in this area to meet the requirements of our clients. Coming together is a natural next step for us and will enable us to deliver the benefits of load reduction more efficiently, both reducing costs and timescales for deployment. Garrad Hassan is a natural partner for us given its breadth and depth of experience in this field." comments Mark Volanthen CTO of Insensys. Tony Mercer, head of control system activities at Garrad Hassan, added "We see Individual Pitch Control as a 'must have' for the next generation of larger turbines. By using the latest control techniques combined with reliable load measurements throughout the life of the wind turbine, we can improve its structural efficiency, cope with a wider range of adverse flow conditions and/or permit a larger, higher yield rotor for a given nacelle and support structure". Insensys was founded in September 2002 to develop high performance, low cost, fibre optic strain measurement technology. Its focus has been on opportunities where the technology delivers substantial benefit over conventional technologies. As a result, Insensys has developed opportunities in the Wind Energy, Aerospace and Oil and Gas industries. Insensys has systems deployed with 12 different types of turbine around the world in prototype, testing and production. Garrad Hassan, founded in 1984, offers independent expert advice on wind energy. With offices in 16 countries, the company is the leading independent authority providing a wide range of consultancy services and products to the wind energy industry. Garrad Hassan has been Bank’s / Owner’s Engineer for over 17,000MW of operating projects and has completed resource assessment of over 50,000MW. For manufacturers, services include design and analysis of wind turbines and components, as well as certification support and on-site measurements. The company is an industry leader in the design and deployment of control software for wind turbines. GH wins funding for important Wave Energy Study - 20th Sep 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) has secured funding support to carry out an important new study for the innovative Wave Hub project, off the coast of the South West of England.
The aim of the work is to extract maximum value from wave data gathered at the Wave Hub site, by developing and proving new analytical techniques in three areas; wave resource, short-term wave forecasting and operational simulation. Following the study, the new methods and techniques derived will be made available to the marine renewables industry for exploitation on future wave energy projects.
The wave resource work will focus on the analysis of data gathered to date, culminating in a long-term prediction of the wave climate that may be used by device developers to estimate the energy output of the machines to be deployed at the site. The short-term wave forecasting work will involve the trialing of GH Forecaster, a leading service for the wind energy industry, in the prediction of sea-state conditions at the Wave Hub site out to a forecast horizon of 72 hours. The development and demonstration of this service is designed to prove the potential value of short-term wave prediction to network-operators, project owners and O&M contractors. In addition, the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of Wave Hub will be examined through the adaptation of a leading offshore wind industry simulation tool know as O2M, to be applicable to wave energy projects. David Quarton, Garrad Hassan Director responsible for the GH Marine Renewables group, commented "We are delighted to be able to undertake this important study with the financial support of the Juice Fund. Using the valuable data gathered at the Wave Hub site and building on methodologies we have developed for wind energy applications, the work will allow significant advances to be made in the development of tools needed for reliable modeling and analysis of wave energy projects". The funding support for the work has been provided by the npower Juice Fund which was set up in 2003 with the intention of developing innovation in new renewable technologies, with a focus on marine energy. The Wave Hub Project is being developed by the South West Regional Development Agency. The GH study is scheduled for completion in May 2008. Garrad Hassan to host a seminar and offer training in conjunction with the CanWEA conference - 14th Sep 2007Garrad Hassan Canada Inc. (GH) will host a seminar and offer two days of professional training in conjunction with the Canadian Wind Energy Association`s 23rd Annual Conference and Trade Show.The CanWEA conference will be held in Quebec City from Sunday September 30th to Wednesday October 3rd 2007. The half-day pre-conference seminar will give a brief introduction to Garrad Hassan and will give an overview of: GH Forecaster - a high accuracy short term forecasting service, GH SCADA - a wind farm supervisory control and data acquisition system and GH WindFarmer - wind farm design software. The seminar will be held on Sunday September 30th between 13:00 and 17:00 at the Hilton Québec. Registration is free of charge and booking is online at: www.garradhassan.com/training. Marc LeBlanc, Director of GH Canada Inc. comments: “CanWEA has come up with the great idea of having pre-conference events before the show. It is a good opportunity for Garrad Hassan to introduce themselves to people who may not be familiar with all aspects of our work and to give an overview of some of our main products: GH Forecaster, GH SCADA and GH WindFarmer. We look forward to meeting and talking to people involved in the wind energy business.” Garrad Hassan is also offering two professional courses after the CanWEA conference. The Wind Farm Design course will be held on Thursday October 4th. This one-day course uses state of the art design tools to introduce professionals to the principles of wind farm design and optimisation. The GH WindFarmer – Introductory Software Training course can build on the Wind Farm Design course, giving beginners a basic understanding of the software using hands-on methods and examples. This will be held all day on Friday October 5th. For more information on CanWEA`s 23rd Annual Conference and Trade Show visit www.canwea.ca. It will be held at the Quebec CityConvention Centre from September 30th to October 3rd 2007. Conference attendees will able to visit Garrad Hassan at Booth 623. Garrad Hassan advises DONG Energy on wind portfolio of €722 million sale to E.ON - 5th Sep 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) has acted as Technical Adviser to DONG Energy regarding the Spanish and Portuguese wind farm portfolio in DONG Energy’s sale of all of its shares in its Iberian renewables business, Energi E2 Renovables Ibéricas S.L. (E2-I) to E.ON for a price equalling an enterprise value of EUR 722m.E2-I has wind, hydro and biomass generation facilities in operation in Spain and Portugal with a net installed capacity of approximately 260MW, as well as further wind power projects. Andrew Garrad CEO of the Garrad Hassan Group has added: "We are delighted to have been able to support DONG Energy in this significant deal. GH's depth of experience in the Spanish and Portuguese markets has enabled us to support this international sale with high level local expertise. This brings GH's M and A advisory role in 2007 to $8 billion." Garrad Hassan software leads the way in China - 5th Sep 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) has achieved spectacular success in China with the sale of its wind turbine and wind farm design software products: GH Bladed and GH WindFarmer. Thesesoftware packages, already established as “industry standard” tools around the world, have been widely welcomed and accepted by wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm design institutions in China.
There are more than 30 licences for GH Bladed in use in China by a range of organisations, including wind turbine manufacturers, blade manufacturers, universities, research institutes and certification agencies. The software has been validated by Germanischer Lloyd and is used by more than 200 licensees around the world for the design of onshore and offshore turbines. GH WindFarmer - the wind farm design software is currently used by over 50 clients in China. GH WindFarmer is available in Chinese and 9 other languages and has been sold in more than 30 countries. GH WindFarmer is supported from Beijing and around the globe by a team of wind farm design specialists. GH has also been training Chinese engineers in turbine modelling, load calculation, turbine control design techniques and wind farm design based on the use of GH Bladed and GH WindFarmer. David Quarton, director responsible for the GH Turbine Design Group, commented “We are delighted that our software tools– GH Bladed and GH WindFarmer have been so widely adopted by the Chinese wind energy industry and we are working hard to provide high quality training and technical support for all our clients in China. Garrad Hassan is very proud that by means of the technology transfer of our software tools and training, we are able to contribute to the rapid growth of the wind energy sector in China.” Lars Landberg joins Garrad Hassan - 4th Sep 2007On October 1st 2007 Lars Landberg will join Garrad Hassan (GH). Lars will be based in Copenhagen, Denmark where he will open a new GH office.
Lars Landberg’s GH responsibilities will be global. He will be a director of Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd (the GH UK trading company) and a member of the board. He will be responsible for meteorological research and development and will be involved in management tasks throughout GH Group.
Andrew Garrad, CEO of the Garrad Hassan Group said: “I am delighted that Lars is joining us. I have known him for 15 years and he is a key figure in the wind energy community. GH has always been at the fore-front of technical developments in wind energy and having Lars on board will enable us to continue in that vein and also to accelerate our meteorological development. Lars’s skills and experience gained by managing a large part of Risø’s activities will also be a great asset for GH globally. With Lars Landberg and Lars Falbe-Hansen, GH ' s presence in Denmark, although small in number, will now have a key figure from both the meteorological and the engineering disciplines and an office in both Copenhagen and Aarhus - we expect GH Denmark’s activities to grow substantially.” Lars Landberg is recognised globally as an authority on wind energy meteorology and is presently Head of Meteorology, Co-ordinator of Risø Wind Energy Research and Deputy Head of the Wind Energy Department at Risø National Laboratories DTU in Denmark. He is also the coordinator of the Danish Research Consortium for Wind Energy. He may be best known as one of the public faces of WAsP. Lars’s arrival continues the trend of key wind energy figures joining GH’s 240 strong staff around the world. In the last 12 months Helmut Klug, previously with DEWI, joined GH in Germany and Benjamin Bell from GE joined GH America. Garrad Hassan Ibérica Opens New Offices - 7th Aug 2007Garrad Hassan Ibérica announces the opening of two new offices: in Monterrey, Mexico and Porto, Portugal.Garrad Hassan now has offices in 16 countries: Australia (Newcastle and Melbourne), Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Spain (Barcelona and Zaragoza), USA (San Diego and Portland). Andrew Garrad, Director of Garrad Hassan, comments on this development for the company “Garrad Hassan sees huge potential for the Mexican wind market and the office in Monterrey is well placed to provide support to wind projects in the region. In Portugal, Garrad Hassan has acted as adviser for many wind projects during the recent boom in activity and was the Owner’s Engineer for the first commercial wind farm in 1997. The office in Porto will provide ongoing support to existing clients and projects as well as aim to expand Garrad Hassan’s work in Portugal. This office is also a base for our increasing level of activity in Brazil. GH is experiencing a substantial increase in Latin America and this work is organised from GH Ibérica’s headquarters in Zaragoza. The opening of both offices marks an exciting new phase for GH in these markets using a well tested formula which has been previously adopted in 14 other countries.” Garrad Hassan advises Trinergy on €1.8 billion wind farm sale to International Power Plc. - 6th Aug 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) advised Trinergy on the €1.8 billion (US$2.5 billion) sale of their German and Italian wind farms to British-based International Power Plc.Trinergy is selling their 648 MW Wind Portfolio to International Power Plc. This includes their Italian wind farms: 495 MW in operation and 67 MW under construction; and their German wind farms: 86 MW in operation. The sale was agreed for €1.84 billion (US $2.5 billion) with a cash consideration of €868 million. Garrad Hassan acted as the Technical Advisor to Trinergy and was closely involved in interaction with all the potential buyers. This transaction was run from Garrad Hassan’s Italian office in Imola and the team was headed by Mattia Boccolini with support from GH Deutschland and GH staff in the UK. Paul Williams, Managing Director of Trinergy said: “Garrad Hassan has been at the cornerstone of our technical analysis of all wind energy assets since our establishment in 2004. Their knowledge, experience and independent appraisal of projects has been an invaluable resource to us." Andrew Garrad CEO of the Garrad Hassan Group added: “We are delighted to have been able to support Trinergy in this huge deal which is a landmark for Italian wind energy development. It shows the strength of the international GH network through which we are able to support international deals with high level local expertise. This deal brings GH’s M and A advisory role in 2007 to more than $7 billion.” Successful GH WindFarmer event at Wind Power Asia - 30th Jul 2007In conjunction with Wind Power Asia (28-30 June 2007), Garrad Hassan held an evening seminar in Beijing on GH WindFarmer. The seminar complemented the day to day support provided by our Chinese office experts to our users and gave a live introduction for newcomers. Presented by Dr Gillian Smith, Qi Jian An (Danny) and their colleagues, the seminar proved to be a success. Nearly 40 people joined the event with half already experienced users of the software. The seminar focussed on the application of GH WindFarmer for wind farm design and energy assessment with specific consideration of the terrain and wind conditions found in China. Some of the advanced features of the forthcoming version 3.6 of the software such as a detailed uncertainty calculation and site condition assessment were presented for the first time in China. The visitors made use of the opportunities for questions and individual conversations with our team and other users.
GH WindFarmer is the leading software for wind farm design, a position which is underpinned by more than 50 licences sold in China. GH WindFarmer is being used by large numbers of Chinese as well as international companies that require a high quality wind farm design and assessment tool. The software is now used in almost every province of China, providing an important tool for the many wind farm projects now planned or already under construction. For further seminars and training courses please refer to our training section. Garrad Hassan advises Alstom in purchasing €350 million manufacturer Ecotècnia - 2nd Jul 2007On June 26 2007 Alstom announced its acquisition of the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Ecotècnia for €350 million.Garrad Hassan Ibérica (together with staff from the UK head office) acted as Alstom’s Adviser on both technical and commercial issues for this acquisition. Charles Soothill, Vice President Technology, Alstom Power Systems, said “Garrad Hassan played an important role in the due diligence as Alstom’s Advisor in the transaction.” Garrad Hassan (GH) advised Alstom on both commercial and technical aspects of the transaction. GH has an unrivalled knowledge of the wind energy market and was able to help Alstom assess Ecotècnia’s position within it. GH provided a detailed evaluation of Ecotècnia engineering, using their experience with both turbine design and global due diligence. Andrew Garrad CEO of Garrad Hassan Group commented “I am delighted to see another “big name” join the wind industry. Coming hot on the heels of EdP’s purchase of Horizon in the US (€2.15bn) and the re-leveraging of Babcock and Brown Wind Partners’ global wind farm portfolio (€1.03bn) the Alstom purchase of Ecotecnia represents another milestone for the wind industry in general, and for Garrad Hassan in particular since GH acted as the Technical Advisor on all of these 2007 deals.” Garrad Hassan wins contract for 750MW Offshore Wind Farm FEED study - 20th Jun 2007Garrad Hassan (GH) have been contracted by npower renewables to undertake the Front End Engineering Development (FEED) study for the 750MW Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, off the coast of North Wales. Once fully operational, Gwynt y Môr would generate enough power every year to supply approximately 2% of all UK households. It will also prevent the annual release of around 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide gas - equivalent to taking approximately 590,000 cars off the road.
The FEED study is a key stage in development of such a project, addressing areas of technical uncertainty in all aspects of the project, optimising the economics, planning sequencing of work and determining the best contracting strategy. GH will be responsible for all areas of the study: project management, wind turbine, layout and yield design and analysis, offshore structures, electrical system and grid connection, O&M, marine installation, cable installation, H & S and procurement support. GH will be supported in this project by BOMEL and Mott Macdonald. npower renewables Offshore Projects Manager, Mike Carter, states: “npower renewables are very pleased to be working closely with Garrad Hassan on Gwynt y Môr. This is a major study which will make a significant contribution to the development and design phase of the project. As a leading UK renewable energy company we are committed to delivering carefully planned quality projects” The award of this contract confirms and strengthens Garrad Hassan’s role as a multi-disciplinary consultancy catering for the offshore wind sector. GH has also recently completed works on a similar FEED study for another UK offshore wind farm. Colin Morgan, Offshore Projects Manager at Garrad Hassan comments on their involvement with Gwynt y Môr offshore: “It’s gratifying to see projects of the scale of Gwynt y Môr progressing in this way. Moreover, it’s a measure of the scale and increasing maturity of the offshore wind business that FEED studies are now being conducted to push towards the best quality of developments. The selection of GH for the work in face of stiff opposition we take as a sign that we have successfully expanded the skill base at GH to cover the key areas of offshore wind farm development through a concerted effort over many years.” GH to provide prototype controller for tidal turbine - 19th Jun 2007GH will undertake the design and implementation of the control system for Tidal Generation Limited’s (TGL) 500kW prototype tidal turbine.The work, supported by the DTI Technology Programme, will build on experience developed by GH in the wind sector where the company GH has been responsible for the design and implementation of a large number of prototype control systems. This project will be the second control design and implementation that GH undertakes in the marine renewables sector, GH having already been selected by Rotech to supply the prototype control system for Lunar Energy’s RTT turbine. GH is well equipped to meet the challenges of providing robust, high quality control systems in this new field of renewable energy. Tony Mercer, Principal Control Engineer at GH explains ‘GH has developed a unique capability to provide innovative control systems deployable on a range of different hardware platforms backed up with state of the art hardware and software testing tools' The Lunar Energy and TGL prototype turbines are to be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney sometime in 2008/9. Garrad Hassan now Forecast for 30% of all Texan Wind Farms - 5th Jun 2007Garrad Hassan currently forecast for approximately 30% of wind energy in Texas, USA. Texas is currently the highest ranking state in the United States for wind energy production, with a total installed capacity of 2,749 MW (AWEA, March 2007).One of the main contributors to the installed capacity in Texas is Babcock & Brown with their four Sweetwater Farms totalling 550 MW. Garrad Hassan are now contracted to supply their forecasting service to all four of Babcock & Brown’s Sweetwater wind farms. Garrad Hassan have been providing forecasts for the Sweetwater wind farms since 2005, where the GH Forecasts are used by the Sweetwater utlity off-takers to efficiently schedule the energy they deliver to the grid. For the recent addition of the Sweetwater IV wind farm, GH will be able to integrate the forecasting system with the GH SCADA system installed at the site, enhancing the forecast capabilities and providing ease of operation to the end user. David Barnes, Asset Manager – Wind at Babcock & Brown comments: “Providing accurate forecasts to our utility off-takers is critically important to our ongoing relationships with them and their ability to schedule energy into the ERCOT system. We have had positive results using the GH Forecaster product and look forward to even better results once connected to our new GH SCADA system currently being deployed throughout the four project phases. The accuracy of the system and the support we receive from GH have been the key factors in our decision to use the product.” GH Forecaster currently supplies short term forecasting to seven (7) countries worldwide. This service attracts clients such as Airtricity, Babcock & Brown, Centrica plc., Falck Renewables and many more. Recent GH Forecaster projects include the contract to supply all of Greece with its forecasting service, for the next three years. Benjamin Bell, President & CEO of Garrad Hassan America Inc., comments on the Sweetwater IV contract and Garrad Hassan’s strength in the industry: “This is a landmark achievement for the GH Forecasting team. We now forecast for over 2 GW of wind power worldwide and this figure is increasing rapidly. Garrad Hassan combines its extensive international experience and proven modelling methods to provide US clients with high quality forecasts. Short term forecasting makes wind energy more dispatchable; increasing the value and making it look more like conventional power generation. GH is leading the way with short term forecasting.“ Garrad Hassan announces availability of GH SCADA for Mitsubishi’s MWT92 2.4MW Turbine - 1st Jun 2007Garrad Hassan has developed an interface between the GH SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) solution and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MWT92 2.4 MW turbine.
This interface and the GH SCADA solution are currently being utilized to monitor and control the prototype MWT92/2.4, undergoing long-term testing at MHI’s Yokohama site.
GH is ready to deploy this new interface for the MWT92/2.4 and has already received inquiries about the GH SCADA system for projects using this turbine in the USA. GH provides its GH SCADA solution for monitoring and control of over 600 MW of MHI turbines and expects that total to nearly double by the end of 2007. The GH SCADA system is currently under evaluation for two projects that will be using the 2.4 MW turbines. These projects will begin construction in the 2nd quarter of 2008. Garrad Hassan selected by Airtricity to provide GH SCADA for its Roscoe Wind Farm - 1st Jun 2007Garrad Hassan has recently been selected by Airtricity to provide its GH SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) solution for monitoring and control of the 209 MW Roscoe wind farm in Texas.
The project is currently under construction and is located near the town of Roscoe, 45 miles southwest of Abilene. In addition to providing the SCADA system for the 209 Mitsubishi MWT-1000A turbines, Garrad Hassan America will be providing control system network design, installation and commissioning for the site.
This selection represents one of several recent major contracts for the GH SCADA group and when complete the project will add to the over 1700 MW of wind power currently, or planned to be, monitored and controlled with the GH SCADA solution by the end of 2007. The GH America SCADA implementation team, along with UK based SCADA development team, will be configuring and commissioning the system to include full redundancy of data and operations. Philip Taylor, GH SCADA Manager, comments on the contract “Garrad Hassan is delighted to have won the contract to supply Airtricity with our leading edge SCADA systems for this high profile wind farm of MHI machines in Texas. This further strengthens our position as a key supplier of enterprise quality independent SCADA for wind farms, designed to meet the demanding requirements of sophisticated owners and operators“. GH Forecaster to supply Greece with all its wind energy forecasting needs - 8th May 2007Garrad Hassan has been awarded a contract to supply its GH Forecaster service to the Hellenic Transmission System Operator (HTSO / Desmie, the Greek TSO) with the objective of forecasting short term wind energy production throughout Greece for the next three years.The project, System for the Prognosis of Wind Electricity Generation, is run by Desmie and is jointly funded by the Greek government and the EU Regional Development Fund. GH Forecaster will be used to provide short term forecasts of wind farm power from 1 hour to 48 hours for the current 750MW of installed wind capacity in Greece as well as additional wind power projects constructed within the next 3 years. Industry commentators expect the Greek capacity to be 3000MW by 2013. GH Forecaster already supplies short term forecasting in 7 countries worldwide. The clients include Airtricity, Babcock & Brown, Centrica Plc, Falck Renewables and many more. When asked about their success with this significant contract in Greece, Dr Andrew Garrad, Director of Garrad Hassan and Partners Ltd., replied: “This is a fantastic achievement for the GH Forecasting team. We now forecast for over 2GW of wind power worldwide and this figure is increasing rapidly. Garrad Hassan will combine its extensive international experience and proven modelling methods with the detailed local knowledge of our project collaborator, Facets, to provide Desmie with high quality forecasts. Short term forecasting makes wind farms look like conventional power stations and is a fascinating example of the way in which good science can substantially increase the value of wind energy and explode the myth of unreliability.” Garrad Hassan advise on $2.15 billion wind portfolio purchase - 3rd Apr 2007Garrad Hassan was contracted by Energias de Portugal (EDP) to act as the technical advisor for wind energy projects and engineering on the Horizon Portfolio, which EDP has agreed to buy from Goldman Sachs in a deal valued at $2.15 billion.The Garrad Hassan team was led by the country manager of GH Germany, Dr. Helmut Klug, with support from GH America and building on the long working relationship between GH Spain and EDP for projects in Portugal and Spain. In an intensive and complex process staying in permanent contact with EDP’s legal, financial, energy outlook and environmental advisors, GH successfully reviewed a portfolio and pipeline of more than 10,000 MW of wind power. Andrew Garrad, Managing Director of Garrad Hassan said "This deal is a milestone for two reasons: its sheer size and the major entrance of a European player into the US market. GH is delighted to have been able to assist EDP in this momentous transaction!". Nuno Alves, CFO of EDP said "GH enabled us to evaluate thoroughly this business and had a key role in the success of this transaction". Garrad Hassan and Partners Limited provide independent expert advice on wind energy. With over 200 staff in 15 countries, we are the leading independent authority. Our clients are all the major wind turbine manufacturers and developers, banks and lenders. We have acted as Bank’s or Owner’s Engineer for 15,000 MW of operating wind farms, and have carried out energy resource assessment of over 50,000MW. GH provide wind farm design and development services, and wind turbine design, analysis and certification support. We also supply leading software: GH Bladed, GH WindFarmer, GH SCADA and GH Forecaster. For more information contact Garrad Hassan here. Garrad Hassan releases GH WindFarmer 3.5 - 26th Mar 2007The leading wind farm design software has just become even better. New exclusive features include an advanced noise impact assessment, a wake model for large offshore wind farms, new procedures to help you process your wind data and a GL certified link to GH Bladed.The new features in detail:
UK Passes 2000 MW Milestone - 19th Feb 2007Garrad Hassan is very pleased that the UK just passed the 2000 MW of wind energy milestone. The UK took 14 years to reach the 1000 MW barrier but has reached the 2000 MW barrier in less than an additional two years. We are proud that Garrad Hassan have provided consultancy services on wind farms totalling approximately 1500 MW of the current installed capacity, and assisted the UK in becoming the 7th country in the world to break through 2000MW. With over 800 MW now under construction in the UK hitting the 3000 MW milestone may be even quicker than two years. GH is pleased to continue to support the UK industry in achieving this goal with our wide ranging consultancy services.
In a global context of total installed wind energy capacity of 74,223MW at the end of 2006, the UK total is modest however the rate of growth in the UK exceeds even the impressive global rate of 32%. Garrad Hassan is a leader in the supply of consultancy and technology to the wind industry globally. |
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