Wind project site evaluations and their impact on development and longer-term asset management

1. Wind Project Site Evaluations
and Their Impact on
Development and Longer-term
Asset Management

2. Thank You To Our Sponsors

3. Before We Start
 This webinar will be available at
www.windpowerengineering.com & email
 Q&A at the end of the presentation
 Hashtag for this webinar: #WindWebinar

4. Moderator Presenters
Nic Abraham
Windpower Engineering
& Development
Rick Miller
EDF Renewable Energy
Blaine Sundwall
EDF Renewable Energy

5. Site evaluation and the impact on the
Development and long-term Asset
Management of Wind Projects

6. EDF RENEWABLE ENERGY
Employees (N America) 976
Installed Capacity 2871 MW
Commissioned in 2013 813 MW
Under Construction 1650 MW
O&M Portfolio 8095 MW
>2.6 MM Solar Panels
Years in Business 26
Headquarters San Diego, CA
Employees (Worldwide) 160,000
Installed Capacity 140 GW
Installed Renewables 5.02 GW
Sales €75bn ($US103.5bn)
EBITDA €16bn ($US22.08bn)
S&P A+
Worldwide Customers 39.3 MM
Headquarters Paris, France
EDF Group Global Figures*
*(as of Dec. 31 2013)
EDF Renewable Energy has more than 25 years of expertise in the renewable industry, and a portfolio of over 5.9
gigawatts of developed projects and 2.8 gigawatts of installed capacity. We specialize in wind and solar photovoltaic
with presence in other segments of the renewable energy space.
EDF Renewable Energy NA*
*(as of June 30 2014)

7. Project Development
7
Each piece must be in
place at the right time for a
project to become a reality
Wind
Transmission
Land Utility

8. Current Wind Development Practices:
• Pre and post construction avian/bat monitoring
• Seasonal constraints for nesting birds
• No guy wires on met towers
• Reduce siting on ridge tops and migration corridors
• Compensation for loss of foraging habitat and streamcrossings
• Adaptive Management or Advanced Conservation Practices

9. Siting Process in a nutshell
9
 Avoid impacts:
 Viewshed from population areas
 Known environmental constraints
 Cultural sites
 Radar, microwave beam paths
 Sensitive species
Where you cannot avoid, Minimize impacts:
Use existing corridors of disturbance
Evaluate project alternatives
Finally, Mitigate impacts of significance:
Conservation agreements
ABPP or BBCS
Compensatory mitigation
Adaptive management or ACP’s
Typical wind project layout constraints map with wildlife
buffers and “buildable lands.”

10. Asset Management
The art of managing Challenges and Responses
• All of the above mentioned areas of site selection impact
the facility after COD. Each Challenge must be met with
an appropriate Response.
• Today’s challenges will remain for the life of the project.
Additionally we can be certain all projects will receive
new challenges through their lifespan.

11. Wind Speed- Challenge
• The item that first comes to mind when discussing site
selection is wind speed. Generally the higher the wind
speed, the better. The downside to robust wind speed is it
attracts other facilities which causes;
o Curtailment
o Upwind resource impingement
o Competition for staff
• Additionally equipment wears out faster in more energetic
wind regimes

12. Wind Speed - Response
• Curtailment
o Must be properly modeled in Pro-forma
o Must have physical capability (SCADA)
• Upwind development
o Modeled properly
o Manage expectations
• Staff Competition
o Good work environment (safe)
o Proper compensation
• Equipment life
o OEM Site evaluation

13. Market - Challenge
• Expected life of a plant is
20 years.
o No US market has remained
unchanged in the last 20 years.
o Each region has it’s own rules for
outage management, curtailment,
operations, transmission, etc.

14. Market - Response
• Market Knowledge
• Centralized control room
with aggressive training
and retraining program
• Trading group
Operation Control Center

15. Environmental (Critters) - Challenge
• Each facility has
environmental concerns
o Avian and bat
o Endangered and Special Status
species
o Grazing management
o Maintenance of compliance binders
o Post construction monitoring
o Documentation of USFWS
Guidelines

16. Environmental - Response
• Projects developed with the concept of proper stewardship
for the world around us.
• Continually updated Best Practices.
• Engagement with regulatory agencies.
• Investment in studies and mitigation measures.
• Management’s commitment.
• Bird and Bat Conservation Strategy – Adaptive Management

17. Miscellaneous - Challenge
• Icing, hot weather, etc
o All have unique impacts on day to
day operations.
o Icing reduces or eliminates
generation, it’s also a personnel
risk.
• Landowners
o And their livestock!

18. Miscellaneous - Response
• Icing and other weather
events must be put in pro-
forma.
o Special precautions like tornado
shelters must be considered.
• Land owner management
requires solid, fair
contracts plus constant
communications.

19. Conclusion
• Siting begins with the end in mind. No facility gets to
relocate, so it’s vital that the development team and the
asset management team collaborate in order to set the
project up for success in the long run.
• Questions?

20. 8/27/2014 20

21. Questions?
Nic Abraham
Windpower Engineering & Development
nsharpley@wtwhmedia.com
Twitter: @WPE_Nic
Rick Miller
EDF Renewable Energy
rick.miller@edf-re.com
Phone: 858.521.3300
Blaine Sundwall
EDF Renewable Energy
blaine.sundwall@edf-re.com
Phone: 858.521.3300

22. Thank You
 This webinar will be available at
www.windpowerengineering.com & email
 Tweet with hashtag #WindWebinar
 Connect with Windpower Engineering & Development
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