Applying Value Engineering for Colorado Wind Farm Project

Black & Veatch applies “value engineering" to design elements of wind farm project to ensure budgets are met

Black & Veatch served as owner’s engineer to help develop a 29 megawatt wind energy facility near Walsenburg, Colorado, owned by Black Hills Colorado Electric. The project scope included creating a detailed design based on 16 Vestas V100 1.8 MW turbines.

Black & Veatch created the designs and construction specifications for the turbine foundations, access roads, collector system and the collector substation. Environmental support included providing information for a new Colorado Department of Transportation access permit. The company also performed a noise assessment to quantify levels of noise exposure for the individual receptors in the area.

Once technical specifications for the project were issued for bid, Black & Veatch supported Black Hills’ needs during the bid evaluation phase. A significant part of the entire design effort that extended into the bid evaluation phase included applying “value engineering” to some of the design elements to ensure that the client’s budgetary goals were met.

The project was successfully constructed on schedule, and commercial operation commenced in the fall of 2012.

The company performed a noise assessment to quantify levels of noise exposure for the individual receptors in the area.