{{article.category}}
{{article.title}}
Where it all begins
The cargo ship Greener arrives at the port of Castellón loaded with 21 wind blades.
My name is Jorge, I have built 12 renewable energy plants in our country, one in Romania and one in Poland. Now I am in Cuenca, building one of the largest wind farms in Spain. My job is to make sure that everything works well, from the arrival of the cargo ships with the pieces that complete the wind farm puzzle.
If there are no components, there are no wind farms. The first thing we need to build a wind plant isits parts. The ships travel between four and six weeks and have to arrive on time at the Port of Castellón so that we can also transport the components by land on time. If not, everything goes wrong. We work with very tight schedules that have to be met, because delays entail enormous financial damages.
“Transport is one of the most important fronts of the construction of wind farms, because we have to bring the components from their origins. If there are no components, the wind farms cannot be assembled”.
A pilot at the port of Castellón during the boarding manoeuvre of the Greener, loaded with 21 wind blades. Once on deck, the pilot will direct the docking manoeuvre of the freighter.
The wind blades for the Campillo plant in Cuenca are huge, each measuring 75.5 meters and weighing 22 tons! These pieces, which are as tall as a 25-storey building, arrive by boat, as does the nacelle, which is where the turbine generator, its transformer, the electrical cabinets and the spin multiplier (where the blades are attached) will be housed.
“The wind blades for the Campillo plant in Cuenca are huge, each measuring 75.5 meters and weighing 22 tons!”
A tugboat from the port of Castellón approaches the Greener, loaded with 21 wind blades to begin the approach manoeuvre to the port of Castellón.
The tugs of the port of Castellón lead the Greener inside the port of Castellón, where the 21 wind blades that it is carrying for the Campillo wind project will be unloaded.
Coordinating the arrival of all this at the port is not easy. I remember what happened to me once in Chile. There weren't enough carabineros (a police institution of this country) to escort the components by land from the port, because yes, they have to accompany us by road since the size of these parts is enormous and we need their help for traffic. So we couldn't unload the boat, which was anchored 40 miles offshore for weeks. The ship costs us 40 thousand euros every day. In short, one problem generates many other problems: the port becomes saturated, because the components do not leave, and construction stops.
The same thing happens here in Spain. We need everything to be in order, documentation permits, personnel, everything so that when the 150-meter-long ships arrive at the port, we can unload them.
A member of the mooring team of the port of Castellón observes the approach manoeuvre of the Greener from the deck of the pilot's ship.
Geared machinery
And it's not easy. Once unloaded, these parts have to be transported, and we often have to carry out roadworks so that the huge 85-meter-long, 3.5-meter-wide lorries can cross over the middle of roundabouts in a straight line. It's a matter of physics. The components just cannot turn. They don't fit. So you have to adapt traffic lights, remove road signs or even street lamps, and then restore everything to its original state. Without that, we can't unload the boats, which triggers a whole host of problems.
“We have to do roadworks so that the lorries can cross through the middle of roundabouts in a straight line. The components just cannot turn. They don't fit. Without that, we can't unload the boats, which triggers a whole host of problems”.
In the left image, a docker from the port of Castellón during the unloading manoeuvre of the wind blades carried by the Greener. In the right image, crew members of the Greener release the safety anchors of the structures that transport the 21 wind blades that form part of the Campillo project.
Everything can be a problem, so you have to be as efficient as possible. Every wind project is a mobile factory, so to speak. Different teams come in, doing different activities... All the machinery has to be very well engaged.
And all part of the port. The unloading in ports must be perfect to avoid other problems. The loading at origin and the unloadings at destination, in Spain, must be dynamic because the costs of moorings are high due to the high hourly price of boat, which comes with around 30 crew.
The qualification of the personnel has to be very high: workers must have a preventive culture and understand the importance of doing things right. These are very risky activities, because they are very large loads and therefore it is dangerous work. There is always supervision in the ports, because for us, safety comes first.
The wind blades carried by the Greener waiting to be unloaded off the coast of the city of Castellón.
Technology and design
The actual construction of the wind farm begins when these boats are unloaded. Nowadays the latest tooling design technology is used facilitate the movement of more components on ships. That is, the frames that carry these sets of blades, from which the cranes hold them when loading and unloading to facilitate their handling. Because on the boat the blades go on top of each other, since the frames that carry them are also coupled on top of each other. In this way, we can stack many blades at a height. That's where we put the focus of our engineering, of our technology. The more components we can transport on a ship, the cheaper each component will be to transport.
We are also very vulnerable to the fluctuation of the price of fossil fuel that moves the ships. Although we hire these vessels six months in advance, the shipping company does not close the cost until the month before the transport.
The Greener is the vessel that, to date, has transported the most wind blades for the Campillo wind project.
On the left we see a manoeuvre to unload a wind blade in the port of Castellón. In the right image, an operator from the port of Castellón during the unloading manoeuvre of a wind blade transported by the Greener.
There are, truly, many factors to take into account. That's why we always have to anticipate problems and do a lot of work every day so that the machinery does not stop.
In fact, when I started in the world of power plant construction, I had difficulty falling asleep, because it is a very stressful activity. But then, with experience, you learn to look at it from a different perspective. At least we've never been assaulted by pirates, who prefer other ships to what we transport, with very large components. But the risk is always there.
“At least we've never been assaulted by pirates, who prefer other ships to what we transport, with very large components. But the risk is always there”.
Jorge del Riego Cuesta
Construction Manager de Nordex Group.
Related Content
The legacy we will be
The legacy that we will be is a reflection of the just energy transition in Spain through its protagonists.
It's a project sponsored by Endesa created by the documentary photographer Álvaro Ybarra Zavala. Álvaro is witnessing our process of change, telling the stories of the real protagonists of this change through his photographs.