Q&A with Jerry Grundtner, Mortenson Construction, Renewable Energy Groups

Minneapolis, MN — Jerry Grundtner is vice president of project development for Mortenson Construction’s Renewable Energy Groups.  In his role with Mortenson, Grundtner provides overall strategic direction for the Renewable Energy Groups’ project and business development activities in the wind power market. His vision brought Mortenson into the wind industry in the mid 1990's, and he has overseen Mortenson’s unprecedented growth into a leading North American renewables contractor. He was a board member of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) for four years and a member of its legislative committee for seven years. 

Question: When did you join Mortenson Construction?
Grundtner: 1988

Question: How long have you been working in the area of wind power?
Grundtner: Since 1995

Question: What have been the most intriguing wind power projects that you’ve worked on?
Grundtner: We have built nearly 100 wind projects, but perhaps my most intriguing wind project was the Kaheawa Wind Farm on the island of Maui, Hawaii. It was extremely challenging because it was located on the side of a mountain with an average grade of 17 percent.  Logistics were difficult—transporting the wind turbines to the site was difficult and the high visibility of the project created unique circumstances.  Anyone visiting Maui cannot miss this wind farm.

Question: What trends or developments in wind power are you watching?
Grundtner: One of the increasing developments and trends is the size of wind turbines and the height of wind turbine towers.  This trend started a few years ago, but has gained momentum due to a number of factors, including: market conditions, increased advancement in wind turbine technology, the desire to gain more net capacity factor out of a site, and development interests to decrease the environmental footprint of a wind farm.

Question: What key elements are essential to the design and execution of a wind power project?
Grundtner: There are many elements that make up a robust design, but some of the most important factors are to design a wind farm that meets all of the requirements of the land leases, power purchase agreement (PPA) and the interconnection (IA).  It also is extremely important to design a wind farm that incorporates lessons learned from other projects, which only comes from an experienced EPC contractor.

Question: Are there any emerging construction techniques that will enhance the construction of wind power projects in the near future?
Grundtner: At Mortenson, we are leading the development of processes and techniques to advance wind power construction.  Whether it’s a new way to improve the subgrade under roads, different foundation designs, scheduling just-in-time deliveries of wind turbines, or achieving a zero punchlist on wind turbine completion, we continue to set the standards that the industry depends upon.

Question: How are new developments in turbine technology and/or the size and scale of wind turbines affecting how wind power projects are constructed?
Grundtner: As the size of wind turbines and height of towers continue to increase, the challenges of erecting these wind turbines will stretch many resources and processes.  Larger cranes will be required, which are currently less available, are slower, and will require a more robust infrastructure to travel.  With taller towers, foundations will become larger, need more concrete and reinforcing steel, and will require more time to build.

In addition, it may be necessary as the foundation loads increase that the traditional anchor bolt foundation may need to be changed to a foundation-mounting part (FMP).  The duration to install a wind turbine on an 80-meter tower versus a 100-meter tower will also increase.  Overall, with taller towers and larger wind turbines, the overall schedule to construct a wind project may become longer.

Question:  What innovations are being developed to bring continuous improvement to the wind power industry?
Grundtner: Mortenson has embarked on a journey of continuous improvement called Kaizen.  Kaizen is a Japanese word for "continuous improvement" or "change for the better,” which refers to a philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to increase safety, quality, reduce the amount of time to complete a project, and eliminate waste.

We strongly believe that as an industry, we must continue to look for ways to improve efficiency and drive out waste.  We have learned through our own experience that Kaizen practices have the potential to lower costs and shorten schedules.

Question: What role do you believe wind power will play in terms of supplying North America’s future energy needs?
Grundtner: Wind power will continue to play a larger role in meeting North America’s energy needs.  As the focus on clean, renewable energy continues to increase, wind power will be one of the predominant generation sources.  We believe this steady growth will continue long-term.

There still remain hurdles to overcome with wind power relative to siting, output, and transmission.  But generally, wind power has become accepted as a mainstream utility-scale source of power generation.

Question: Many wind power projects are being built in locations that are often far removed from urban or metro areas. Do you foresee new wind power technology and construction techniques that will bring wind power closer to urban areas?
Grundtner: The ability to build wind power projects closer to urban areas will bring a tremendous opportunity to the growth of wind power.  With the current constraint of building transmission lines that are needed to move wind power to urban areas, the ability to build wind power closer to urban areas would help alleviate that hurdle. However, if we place wind farms closer to urban areas, more people will see and interact with wind power, which could subject wind power facilities to more stringent permitting issues due to urban requirements.  This in of itself would be just one of the issues that would need to be dealt with if we placed wind power closer to urban areas.  I believe that as an industry, we need to investigate this further.

Question: What is the next frontier in wind power?
Grundtner:  The frontier for wind power will be the opportunity to build 1 gigawatt projects in the remote location of the Dakotas and the western states. The opportunity for wind power to truly represent significant integration into the total electrical generation of the U.S. will only come about with larger projects on the scale of a typical coal-power plant or nuclear power plant. Offshore wind power will continue to develop and on shore will naturally continue, however to reach a 20 percent integration (wind power representing 20 percent of the nation’s electrical generation output) will demand much larger projects.