CROOKWELL
WIND FARM
his project is a great win for SMEC to enter the renewable energy market, specifically contributing to wind farm development in Australia. SMEC will also have opportunities in other disciplines in later stages.
I initiated the relationship with Union Fenosa Wind Australia (UFWA) in early 2013 through an EOI presentation. The presentation went well and after this I regularly communicated with them for project updates and potential opportunities. In late December 2013, our opportunity had finally arrived - Crookwell 3 Wind Farm Site Investigation. I prepared the tender during the Christmas break together with David Malorey, and submitted it in January.
SMEC has very minimal wind farm experience so it was a challenge for us.
We decided to emphasise our wind farm personnel experience by adding David Kobler and Allan Gerrard from our Melbourne office into the project team. They had worked for this client before and both left a very positive impression on quality delivery and technical knowledge support therefore, we agreed this will cover our shortage on SMEC project experience.
We successfully secured this tender in early February, beating 5 other highly experienced investigation competitors such as Coffey, GHD and Golder.
Following a few rounds of tender clarifications and negotiations with the client, we were advised that our continued client focus, relationship establishment and cost effective recommendations along with our strong technical capacity were the reasons for this great win.
The scope of work includes borehole drilling, test pit excavation and a series of geophysical testing across 29 proposed wind turbine locations.
This project is currently managed by our new Principal Engineer, Mark Green. The fieldworks commenced within a week of award and are being delivered by a combined Geotech Team from SMEC'S Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra offices.
.
Terence Huang
Experienced Geotechnical Engineer
T
Our Geotech team breaking new ground
The Sydney Geotechnical Team has been awarded the contract to carry out the Detailed Geotechnical Investigation for the Crookwell 3 Wind Farm which will be delivered by Union Fenosa Wind Australia (UFWA).
Terence Huang shares with us how we were successful in securing the win up against some very tough competition.