Richfields Windfarm

Earthworks

Location: “Sloblands”, Co. Wexford
Client: Mercury International
Project Value: €6 million
Categories: Windfarm, Renewable Energy, Earthworks, Pile Foundations
Country: Ireland

AGL Consulting were geotechnical consultants to the main contractor, Mercury International, for the design and construction of a windfarm with 18 No. 1.5 MW GE Wind Turbines and 7.5 km of access roads on reclaimed tidal mudflats in the “Sloblands” of Wexford. Our scope of work included:

• The specification and contract supervision for additional site investigation on the site involving rotary coreholes to characterise ground conditions in deep deposits of poor quality highly weathered rock for the turbine foundations, and trial pits on reclaimed estuarine mudflats for the design of the site infrastructure, including access tracks, crane hardstandings and substations.
• Preparation of the Geotechnical Interpretive Report for the project.
• The geotechnical design and contract specifications for the pile foundations for the turbines, including model pile designs to comply with IS EN 1997-1 Eurocode 7 for Geotechnical Design – Part 1. CFA piles were designed for uplift and compression static and dynamic loading in glacial till and weak highly weathered rock below the soft estuarine soils.
• Monitoring the construction and testing of the pile foundations under compressive and uplift loading, including interpretation and analysis of the load test results on instrumented piles, and reviewing the dynamic test results.
• The earthworks design and specification for the access roads and crane hardstandings, including geogrid reinforced hardstanding areas for piling and turbine erection.
• Geotechnical advice and periodic inspections of foundation construction and civil works on site.