Engineering

RES Americas has the in-house capabilities to carry out engineering design for, and specification of, roads, foundations and electrical collector systems.  The Company also utilizes third-party engineering resources to assist in this work, particularly with respect to the detailed design of substations and transmission lines. Effective planning and scheduling are key to the successful construction of projects, and RES Americas’ team of project managers continually review, monitor and update project plans and schedules to ensure that the project is delivered on time. 

Construction permitting, including environmental and building permits are procured by the construction team.  These permits are procured as early as possible in the construction process so as to facilitate construction of the project on schedule. 

RES Americas has a team of engineers that carry out detailed engineering design and specification of both civil and electrical works. This team of civil and geotechnical engineers are able to produce cost-efficient and practical turbine foundation solutions for each project site.  The engineers work closely with site investigation companies to acquire the necessary geotechnical and geophysical data from the project sites to evaluate any foundation design.  This information, coupled with the loading data provided by the wind turbine manufacturers, allows the engineers to develop the appropriate foundation design for any given project, and then, using their experience and skills, optimize the engineering design to produce a final solution that is both cost-efficient and practical to construct.

The civil engineers also design road and infrastructure layouts for the projects, and utilize the geotechnical data to specify the construction of the site roads.  RES Americas' team of electrical engineers are skilled in designing the electrical collection system for each of the wind projects.  The electrical engineers work with site investigation companies to test the thermal and electrical resistivity characteristics of the project site.  The team is then able to conduct the necessary electrical design studies, and build and utilize the computer models of the overall electrical system, that allow the Company to identify the cable sizes and configurations to be used.  The engineers use a variety of proprietary and in-house software packages to produce and study the designs such that the final design is optimized for cost of installation whilst at the same time being able to minimize electrical losses.   

RES Americas generally procure substations on a design-and-build basis, and the engineering team conduct a review and approval process of the detailed design submitted by the contractor to ensure compliance with both the project specifications and the interconnection agreement.  A similar process is also followed for overhead transmission lines in that these works are also typically procured on a design-and-build basis.  Within its electrical team, RES Americas has the capacity to conduct the design and specification of communication cable layouts and systems.