AG Wind Power

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To say that Stuart Cameron, Managing Director of UK based AG Wind Power, has a head for heights is an understatement. In fact, as a former member of the British climbing team, qualifications for working at height don’t come much better.

“I’ve always been involved in working at height, so being involved in projects which require men, machinery and equipment being deployed to high-level environments, hundreds of feet in the air just seems natural to me,” he says.

“Safety has always been paramount to the business activities that I’ve been involved with. It started with teams of engineers working on projects underneath, and on the sides of structures such as railway bridges, cliff faces and 40 storey buildings installing access cradles and platforms, or undertaking servicing and repairs. At first glance our leap to the world of wind doesn’t seem like an obvious step, but when you consider that everything involved in building and servicing turbines is done at high-level by mechanical and electrical engineers you start to see the logic.”

IRJ caught up with Stuart Cameron and Chris Reed, AG Wind Power’s Commercial Manager, to talk safety in high-level, high risk projects, the future of the British wind industry and the part AG Wind Power is set to play in that.

AG Wind Power: The Power behind Projects
When you see a wind farm, the first thing you notice is the sheer scale. They are immense structures often over 100m in height and weighing in at about 300 tonnes.

“In essence we are an erection and maintenance specialist, what we provide is an enabling service There’s a lot of media coverage of the wind industry but people often overlook is how these turbines actually arrive on the landscape in the first place. That’s where we come in,” Cameron says.

“We provide a turnkey solution to clients, getting the components to site, lifting them into position, bolting together and wiring them up ready to go. Then we work with commissioning teams to get these things into a position where they can be energized. That’s what we do; we provide all the equipment, the expertise, manpower, and cranes that are required to install these giants, and do it safely and quickly.”

In fact, the cranes are a perfect example of the lengths that AG Wind Power goes to in order to meet the varied, highly specialist and sometimes seemingly insurmountable needs of their clients.

“It’s very specialized in terms of the cranes that are a required to build a wind farm. The components, such as nacelles can weigh in excess of 100 tonnes when they’re bolted together, and they’re being lifted to heights of 80/90 metres so the demands upon the equipment used to get these things built are huge,” Cameron explains.

“Typically the minimum required for building a megawatt wind turbine is a crane with a 500 tonne lifting capacity. This sort of equipment is scarce, there are a handful of companies with the capacity to provide them in the United Kingdom. Then there is the next stage up from that, depending on which manufacturer, which model of wind turbine is being erected and what the hub height is, the cranes required can be in excess of 1000 tonne lifting capacity. In those terms there are only a handful of companies in the world with that capability.”

Cameron says that AG Wind Power are involved in all manner of projects throughout the United Kingdom.

“We recently completed a wind farm called Bagmoor in Lincolnshire the turbines there are the largest installed to date by Repower in the UK and the largest in the region, we were really pleased to be selected as their partner for that project,” he says.

“Part of what we (our site managers and the engineers) love about the industry is the variety involved. Every project is different and requires a totally fresh approach. It keeps things interesting for everyone, having to overcome new challenges every day is a great experience.”

Odd, even by the wind industry’s standards is that Bagmoor is situated on a turf farm; a very special turf which is used at major football stadiums in the UK including Wembley and Old Trafford. Actually building the wind farm itself without damaging the turf presented quite a challenge.

“If you consider that other projects we work on are up in the mountains of Scotland or offshore installations the challenge of accessing those is very different to that of accessing a site nestled right amongst the pristine turf that is going down at Wembley, we have to be very adaptable to the kind of environments in which we’re working. There aren’t really many off-the-shelf solutions to these problems,” Cameron says.

A Safety-Conscious Company
The majority of work on turbines takes place over 300 feet above the ground in the nacelle. This is where AG Wind Power’s safety-conscious approach comes into play. Working at such great heights has inherent risks. It’s not just about working safely while you are up there, but while accessing the nacelle and descending too. During installation there are guys up at the top of the tower guiding a 100 tonne nacelle into position just inches from their heads. It goes against all of the current norms of the construction industry in the UK, and to remain calm and do it safely takes a special breed of person.

“As an organization we’re about expertise and safety. What we do is high-risk in many different ways so at the core of our long-term strategy there are some basic requirements, they revolve around quality, safety, training, knowledge and expertise,” Cameron explains.

“We ensure all of our engineers are trained to work safely at all times, everyone undergoes wind turbine access and rescue training before they start, and must also hold emergency first aid certificates. These guys are 80m up and they need to be able to act swiftly in an emergency those first few minutes can be vital. It’s the industry’s responsibility to ensure that mechanisms are put in place to allow all of these areas (quality, safety, training & knowledge) to filter through into the market place. We as an industry have to face up to the reality that it’s a dangerous job, our guys never lift a finger until they have planned their work , assessed all the risks and know exactly what they are doing, and they never work alone.”

The Future of the British Wind Industry
With the UK government 2020 targets for increased renewable energy sources in the spotlight..

“If the government are to hit the published renewables targets, there are huge challenges that have met. If you look at statistics published by the BWEA (British Wind Energy Association) they forecast that by the end of 2009 there will be around 3.5 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity. For the government to hit the 20 per cent target by 2020, that figure needs to be around 14 gigawatts,” Cameron says,

“Offshore, that number is expected to be as high as 25 gigawatts by 2020. In broad terms, for the government to hit their targets by the end of 2009, there would be around 2,500 – 3,000 wind turbines on and offshore in the UK. To hit the 2020 target that figure needs to rise to over 10,000.”

Cameron says that the industry is already struggling for experienced companies and individuals.

“Training, knowledge and equipment are also problems. If it’s struggling now, there are huge challenges to overcome to install that number of turbines as well as those of maintaining them safely in the future,” he says.

It’s an exciting time for the British wind industry, which, as Cameron highlights, receives plenty of media attention when new projects crop up. However it is companies like AG Wind Power that put the pieces together before the projects hit our headlines.

“The main goal for AG Wind Power is to maintain our position as a market leading turbine installer here in the UK and in the long term globally,” Reed summarizes.

This safety conscious, highly experienced company looks destined for an increasingly busy time leading up to 2020 and beyond - a prospect they relish!