Fresh wind for Thailand’s energy mix

The Thepharak wind farm located in Huai Bong district, some 260 kilometres north-east of Thailand’s capital city Bangkok, was constructed over a period of around one and a half years. It boasts some of the highest wind turbine towers in the whole of Asia. The German construction company Max Bögl Wind AG was awarded the contract for the project and began shipping 262 overseas containers from Germany’s Oberfalz region (Upper Palatinate) to Huai Bong, some 17,000 kilometres away, in August 2017. These contained the entire material for the construction of the world’s first mobile manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers, enabling production aligned to German quality criteria to also be carried out in Thailand.
Solid anchorage systems

MC-AnchorSolid E820 was the first choice for anchoring and bonding the bearing blocks* for the first tower ring on the foundation of the enormous wind turbine masts, and also for filling the resulting cavities. This highly reactive anchor adhesive was successfully tested at the Max Bögl headquarters in Germany and proved to be particularly durable and resistant. As a ready-to-use, two-component anchor adhesive based on epoxy resin, it is especially suitable for securing threaded rods and reinforcing steel in both dry and water-saturated, crack-free concrete. MC-AnchorSolid E820 is approved as an anchor bonding adhesive according to European Technical Assessment ETA-15/0506 and has been tested compliant for use in C20/25 to C50/60 concrete for anchoring threaded rods and attachment rebar.
Despite the demanding climatic conditions that prevail in Thailand, with outside temperatures of up to 40 °C and high humidity, it has been verified as meeting all requirements in terms of strength and tolerance. 

Logistical challenge

Although the construction company had decided to manufacture the structural components directly on site in Thailand, the MC-AnchorSolid E820 still had to be supplied from the MC production site in Bottrop, Germany. This was quite a logistical challenge because the material always had to be delivered just in time by ship, plane and truck to a rural area in the hinterland of Bangkok, a location of poor accessibility by road. However, thanks to very close cooperation between the MC offices in Germany and Singapore, these challenges were also successfully overcome.  The final erection and equipment installation work including rotor blade assembly was completed by the beginning of February 2019, with connection to the grid occurring in the following month. The new wind farm takes the Thai government another good step closer to delivering on its commitment to increase the share of renewable energies in power generation to 30 per cent by 2036.
* These blocks serve to align the first towerring of the wind turbine mast so that it is absolutely straight. The space between the foundation and the first ring is then grouted to create a rigid support.