Project Highlights

S&ME, Inc. provided geotechnical engineering and construction materials testing services for TVA’s expanded wind site in 2004. The site is located near Oliver Springs in Anderson County, TN. The wind turbines are located in an area that was previously strip mined for coal. The 15 new turbines are located near the three smaller turbines which were constructed in 2000. TVA currently purchases their 27 MW output under a 20-year, $60 million power purchase agreement.

The expansion to TVA’s wind energy project included the construction of 15 turbines which are 260 feet tall, with 135 feet long blades. In addition to the turbines, a mountainous access roadway, substation, transformers and switch gear equipment and ancilliary maintenance/support buildings were constructed at the site. In order to construct the turbines, crane pads were required to be constructed at each of the 15 turbine sites.

S&ME’s geotechnical services included site reconnaissance, drilling exploratory borings, logging of the soil samples and bedrock cores, geotechnical laboratory testing of soil and rock samples, and providing geotechnical data reports for each turbine. Our construction materials testing services included proofrolling observations of the roadways and crane pads, density testing of the fill placed in the building and substation areas, concrete and grout sampling and compressive strength testing of cubes and test cylinders