Utilities and Energy

As the energy industry makes use of increasingly remote sites, creating access roads and working platforms able to handle heavy loads has become crucial. Tensar has years of experience working with many of the major energy exploration, production and generation companies across the world, often in the most extreme conditions.

Wind farms

Onshore wind farms by their very nature tend to be in remote, often environmentally sensitive locations requiring access roads and lifting platforms to be constructed over poor soils. Offshore wind farms require staging areas to be constructed, often over soft esturine silts. Tensar geogrids have proven ideal in stabilising both access and service roads and working platforms, while also reducing environmental impact:

• The load spreading capability of the mechanically stabilised layer is crucial for heavy plant – especially crane platforms
• Faced with soft soils, the use of Tensar’s TriAx geogrid can speed up construction, use less aggregate and reduce costs
• With less material to be removed and reduced vehicle movements, construction CO₂ emissions can be reduced by up to 50%
• As staging areas for offshore wind farms are often sited over weak ground, Tensar TriAx geogrids can minimise fill thicknesses and increase bearing capacity for safe site operations
• Tensartech Wall Systems can also help in the rapid, economical construction of temporary or permanent earth retaining structures such as bridge abutments and bunds to allow heavy plant, deliveries of turbines and access over watercourses that might be sensitive to the environment. Cost effective and considerate solutions for wind farms.

Oil and Gas Drilling

In the search for new oil and gas fields, on-shore drill sites have become less accessible and often subject to severe weather. The stabilisation of access roads, drill pads and working platforms for cranes, piling rigs and other heavy equipment over soft and variable ground is a key issue – and Tensar’s geogrids can play a crucial role:

• Tensar geogrids reinforce unbound layers of roads and working areas to create a mechanically stabilised layer and increase bearing capacity
• With less excavation needed and relatively simple installation, geogrids can reduce both construction time and cost
• Tensar geogrids have been proven to work in extreme cold and can increase the carrying capacity of ice roads by up to 60%
• If access is by rail rather than road, Tensar geogrids can also increase the bearing capacity of railway trackbeds, particularly over soft ground