Although the wind energy industry is booming, the sector presents several technical, environmental, and financial challenges that investors and developers need to understand thoroughly in order for their businesses to be successful. DNV offers combined expertise in appraising and evaluating such risks and opportunities, as Dr. Claus Fridtjof Christensen, DNV Global Wind Energy, explains.
PES: Welcome to PES magazine, can you start off by introducing your company and the services it provides to the wind industry?
Claus Fridtjof Christensen: DNV is an independent foundation with the purpose of safeguarding life, property and the environment. DNV’s services cover the entire value chain from wind/energy assessment to type and project certification and SHE services. Our clients include large energy companies, equipment manufacturers, utilities, investors, and authorities involved in the wind industry.
PES: At what stage do you typically become involved in a project – or do you offer a lifecycle approach?
CFC: Firstly, I should explain that we try to distinguish between certification and consulting in this regard. With consulting, we approach new customers at any stage of the process, whereas with the wind turbine certification we would be involved in the initial development and design.
We would like to be involved as early as possible in order to have the most effective impact and then follow it through the entire life cycle. For project certification, we normally get into the project during the establishment of the design basis, just after the concept studies, and ends when the wind farm is in operation. If we don’t get involved in the early stages of a design and build project, it can make a large impact on the cost. We’ll typically go through the initial documentation and prototypes so that we can predict errors and make changes earlier rather than later.
PES:
We presume that the ‘flipside’ of the evaluation of risk, is the appraisal of opportunities. Is this an area that you also embrace?
CFC: Absolutely. We help our clients to identify opportunities through a wide range of advisory services. For example, we work with clients to identify potential sites for development, characterisze and optimisze the project layouts and designs, and improve their project performance.
