Wind Online

Belen Elektrik Uretim A.S. which is a subsidiary of Guris Holding A.S. is currently working on 10 units of 3 MW Vestas V90 wind turbine erection project in Belen / Hatay. I do not want to lenghten the story behind the project but I want to inform you how I involved in this project.

As it is known every project has a time constraint. If there is a delay on any step of a project, at least one other main step is directly affected from this delay. There was a considerable amount of pressure on my collegue from Vestas to be able to complete erection of each turbine in two days because there was a delay about the completion of wind turbine foundations. It was impossible in Belen Site to make our crane travel from one pad to another for the slope of roads are considerably high and width is not enough for our crane to travel. So, after completing erection of each turbine, we disassembled our crane, carried it’s parts by the help of trailers and assembled it again new wind turbine pad. If the site was suitable for travelling without disassembling our crane, then the request of Vestas crew could be reasonable. They only had the knowledge that a wind turbine can be erected within two days and they can erect up to three wind turbines within a week, but they did not have any idea about the ideal site conditions to be able to do that. Because of the slow working manner of wind turbine montage crew and pressure from Vestas crew, my collegue had some problems with Vestas that he did not deserv. Then I was entrusted with being in charge of erection of several wind turbines in this project. The way that how I was entrusted is a subject of another article…

As a routine process, I collected every available data about project including the contract before leaving our headquarter. After arriving site, I paid a visit to Vestas crew with my collegue and listened their requests about the execution of project. As Stephen R. Covey emphasized we sought first to understand, then to be understood to be able to share a common aim. After the erection of first wind turbine during my visit, Project Manager of Vestas came to site to be able observe progress. He was sharing the same thoughts with Vestas crew on site about the duration of moving crane from one pad to another. Epictetus once said “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows”. I want to expand this saying to “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows unless it is proven that what he knows is wrong”. As Vestas Project Manager came to site during the assembly of our crane, we requested him to stay on site and observe assembly process. He had stayed with us on site for more than 2 hours and had seen the effort we had put in. We also provided logical arguments about why we also want to finish this job as soon as possible. After that night, he was convinced that it was not possible to move from one turbine pad to another in a shorter term.

After changing the thoughts of Vestas crew about de-rig from one turbine pad to another, I followed the steps that I decided to do before. As a forward player in the beginning, I started to put my collegue forward to make Vestas crew directly communicate with him as it was in previous days and receded from forward player position step by step. After the erection of two Vestas V90 wind turbines, I totally handed over my responsibilities to my collegue and leaved site.

As Ralph Nichols indicated “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them”. No matter how impractical of customers’ requests are, we have to pay attention to their requests, try to understand them and then provide logical alternatives to be able to share a common aim.

Yigit NEPHAN

14.09.2009