BV Certification France Unveils Offshore Wind Guide

Bureau Veritas Certification France has released a comprehensive Guide on Offshore Wind Farm Project Certification, which allows industry players and experts to make sense of the complex rules applying to certification processes in the field of offshore wind farms.

 

Bureau Veritas is attending the EWEA trade show from 4 to 7 February 2013 in Vienna (Austria). This exhibition will give visitors the opportunity to know more about a major Testing Inspection & Certification (TIC) player for the wind industry.  

Bureau Veritas’ services and expertise in wind energy can help companies better plan their projects, avoiding unwelcome risks and maximizing returns. Bureau Veritas offers a wide range of key services in the wind-energy sector, from energy-yield prediction to the optimization of the wind-farm lay-out, while covering certification issues.

Specifically, the Guide on Offshore Wind Farm Project Certification issued by Bureau Veritas Certification France spells out the mandatory requirements and steps to follow in order to obtain certification. (To download the guide on offshore wind farms, please go to: http://offshore-wind-farm.bureauveritas.com/.)

The experts of Bureau Veritas will be on the company’s stand (Stand B-A64), at the EWEA trade show, in Vienna (Austria), between 4 and 7 February of this year, and will be able to answer questions visitors may have.

Offshore wind-farm projects pose a number of challenges. Installations are complex and each site is different. Certification by an internationally recognized body ensures each project meets all the regulatory requirements.

“Whether your company is a wind-farm operator, developer or wind-turbine manufacturer, Bureau Veritas offers a wide range of customized services,” explains Philippe Lanternier, Bureau Veritas Industry & Facilities Division EVP.

The Guide on Offshore Wind Farm Project Certification includes information on a range of topics, including normative and informative references; the project-certification process; the approach to certification; site conditions and design evaluations; transportation and installation surveillance; and, finally, the measurement of project characteristics.

The guide covers issues such as mandatory requirements, steps to be taken to obtain certification, and the certification methodology. The Guide on Offshore Wind Farm Project Certification clarifies all aspects of the certification process: from initial design through to construction and operation, the guide enables readers to easily understand the certification process, in order to render it more effective for the client entity.

The guide will enable industry players to successfully anticipate the certification process and reduce related risks, while ensuring the safety of the wind farms concerned and the quality of the installed capacity. The guide refers to the certification process described in IEC 61400-22 and is based on the IEC 61400 series, which constitutes the international standard for wind turbines.

Wind energy is a key energy for the future and Bureau Veritas offers unique expertise in this thriving market.  The Wind Energy Studies and expertise that Bureau Veritas provides help companies define their wind-farm project: getting risk-advisory services to ensure the reliability of a project is particularly important.

Bureau Veritas can assist with a wide range of key aspects, from energy-yield prediction to the optimization of the wind-farm lay-out. The company can help the client entity to secure all the required authorizations prior to starting the project in earnest. Bureau Veritas can also assist with environmental-impact studies and collision-risk studies, which are a particular concern for offshore wind energy.

Due diligence is crucial in any project such as setting up a wind farm. “Companies will receive independent technical expertise for their wind-energy projects with our due diligence,” says Philippe Lanternier.

“Our services are increasingly beneficial when determining, during the project-definition phase, whether to go ahead with a project. All facts are taken into consideration and are from an informed perspective,” explains Philippe Lanternier.  When it comes to wind-turbine type certification, companies will want to ensure the wind-turbine type that has been chosen is safe and compliant with international standards and technical requirements: this is an area where Bureau Veritas can assist.

Regarding the certification of an offshore wind-farm project, similarly, it is important to ensure the wind-farm project is safe and compliant with international standards and technical requirements: Bureau Veritas can lend its expertise in this respect.

Bureau Veritas can help with the wind-farm project’s supply-chain conformity assessment: “We can assist clients in ensuring quality of the whole supply chain with our worldwide network of experts,” explains Philippe Lanternier.
At the construction phase, Bureau Veritas assists customer in ensuring compliance of equipment and installation in the field of quality, environment and health and safety.

Finally, the operational safety of a wind farm is a long-term concern: Bureau Veritas has experts who can assist a client entity in maintaining the long-term safety of the installation and its compliance with standards and requirements.