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One industry that is flourishing in these uncertain economic times, is the power systems sector. As the Governments of Britain and the rest of Europe maintain their drive for renewables, the demand for analytical modelling and simulation of proposed renewable projects has risen dramatically. To cater for this growing demand, energy consultancy TNEI Services has expanded its power systems analysis Group recruiting eight new members of staff since January 09. The Group, already believed to be the UK’s largest specialist power systems analysis resource, has taken its number to 27 and is still on the recruitment trail. Based predominately in the company’s Manchester office, TNEI’s Power Systems Group works on some of the most complex and detailed analytical modelling of all types of renewable generation technologies in marine, wave and wind. The team applies its technical design services to all aspects of power generation and distribution and works with both

One of the most crucial issues for wind farm developers is the potential wind yield from their sites, an issue of significant importance in raising finance for developments and securing the future of a site. Energy Consultancy, TNEI has expanded the range of technical Planning and Environmental services it offers by introducing wind resource assessments to its portfolio, a service that is already being well used by many of its clients. By combining the expertise of two of its in-house Groups, TNEI can now provide detailed and accurate wind energy yield assessment reports including bankable P90 confidence level predictions for annual production. These can be compiled once sufficient data is available, usually after 12 months. This is a specific service clients will require when seeking finance for wind projects. Analysts from TNEI’s Power Systems and Technology team have combined their expertise in numerical modelling and analysis of wind flow with

Energy consultancy TNEI Services has tackled the issue of wind shear head-on by developing their own method of modelling and assessing turbine noise which takes account of wind shear at individual wind farm sites. The method is founded on bespoke software designed in-house by TNEI’s noise experts in conjunction with colleagues in the Wind Resource Assessment team. Recent research has shown Wind Shear to be an important consideration for wind farm planning and noise assessments because failure to consider wind shear can, on certain sites, lead to under prediction of levels of wind turbine noise. The team is confident that its new method will improve the accuracy of wind turbine noise assessment providing developers, local planning authorities and wind farm neighbours with confidence that wind turbine noise has been comprehensively considered. Wind shear is the relationship between wind speed at different heights above the ground, and in particular between the

Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider, confirms that it has purchased TNEI Services Limited (TNEI) through the acquisition of its holding company New Energy Industries Limited for a consideration of £7.5 million, of which 30% is contingent upon senior management’s continued participation in the business. TNEI is a specialist consultancy supporting the energy, power and renewables sectors and has some 50 staff in Newcastle and Manchester; its acquisition further broadens Petrofac’s technical consulting capacity. TNEI provides services in the areas of power transmission and distribution, planning and environmental consent and energy management. The acquisition brings to Petrofac both a strong technical reputation in the power sector and valuable new customer relationships. Martin Barnes, managing director of TNEI, commented: “As part of the Petrofac group, we see great potential both to provide broader services to TNEI’s customers and to help Petrofac build a strong, technically-competent service to the

Development projects such as wind farms have the potential to have a major impact on a wide range of bird species through habitat loss, disturbance and collision. In order to provide a more complete “‘in house’ service, TNEI has extended the capabilities of the existing ecology department through the appointment of an experienced Ornithological Consultant. Paul Massey joined TNEI in October 2010 with over 14 years of professional experience, including working for the RSPB, BTO, three Bird Observatories, two Wildlife Trusts, local government and an independent ecological consultancy. Paul has experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team on a wide variety of development types, including single and multi-turbine schemes, large-scale onshore power lines, gravel extraction, opencast coal, flood defence, road and housing sites. In recruiting Paul, TNEI has extended the Planning and Environmental services it offers to clients and can now provide the following ornithological services: Desk based

OFGEM has requested required the distribution network operators (DNO) to implement a common method for charging their extra high voltage (EHV) customers. All 14 DNO licence areas in the UK are required to adhere to this. Leveraging our expertise in network modelling and software development, TNEI won contracts to implement the common charging method for 8 out of the 14 licence areas. The contracts have involved developing software to calculate Use of System Charges and then utilising the software to produce the location based charges. The following three charging methodologies have been implemented; LRIC(Long Run Incremental Cost), FCP (Forward Cost Pricing) and NPA (Notional Path Analysis).