ABS Consulting, ABS Join Committee Developing Wind Turbine Guidelines for US Installations

(Houston) Rolando Vega, Lead Engineer, ABS Consulting Renewable Energy Services, and Lars Samuelsson, ABS Principal Engineer, Renewable Energy, have been named to the Large Wind Turbine Permitting Guidelines Subcommittee, a newly formed U.S. national committee working to identify typical and specific U.S. national wind turbine design requirements that are compatible with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) requirements.

The effort is authorized by AWEA Standards Coordinating Committee (SCC) and consists of more than 100 members from the industry and academia. The committee has been divided into three project teams, or working groups, that will focus on the following: Structural Requirements, Offshore Requirements and Electrical Requirements.

Vega has been elected Leader of the Structural Requirements Subcommittee, which is focused on five areas: Industry Survey and Outreach, Wind Turbine Tower Design, Wind Turbine Foundation Design, Inspection and Structural Health Monitoring and a Guideline Consistency Panel. The Structural Requirements Subcommittee is a joint effort between the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Samuelsson has been appointed Secretary of the Offshore Requirements Subcommittee. The group is split into three focus areas: Structural Reliability, Manufacturing/Qualification, Testing/Installation and Construction and Safety of Equipment/Operation/Inspection and Decommissioning.

"Wind energy is attracting a great deal of business and government interest at this time," Vega commented. "The industry recognizes that while there is the opportunity to move quickly and develop the leading proposed offshore wind generation projects, it is important to do so on the basis of sound, practical regulatory requirements and industry standards. The formation of the interindustry committee and the work that we will do over the next year will, we hope and expect, have a profound impact on the content of those future regulations and standards."

Each of the three subcommittees is developing guidelines pertaining to their specific area of expertise. Once complete, the subcommittee recommendations will be considered by the full committee and once accepted, will be offered to the U.S. Government agencies charged with developing the regulations that will govern U.S. wind installations. These national guidelines are expected to be available for public comment by late 2010.

About ABS Group

ABS Group of Companies, Inc. (www.abs-group.com), through its operating subsidiaries, provides data-driven risk and reliability solutions and technical services that help clients confirm the safety, integrity, quality and efficiency of critical assets and operations. Headquartered in Spring, Texas, ABS Group operates with more than 1,000 professionals in over 20 countries serving the marine and offshore, oil, gas and chemical, government and industrial sectors. ABS Group is a subsidiary of ABS, one of the world's leading marine and offshore classification societies.