SGS Societe Generale de Surveillance : Customer Story: Contino Launches First Wind Farm in Poland

The Contino Wind Group is dedicated to developing a significant portfolio of wind farms across Europe. With a commitment to the concept of sustainable energy, the group is involved in every aspect of wind farm projects - from technical and administrative consulting to installation, construction and operation. Having been involved in projects with a total capacity of over 900 MW throughout Europe, the Contino Wind Group looked to launch its first project in Poland.

Contino chose the West Pomerania province in Poland as the location for their Kosciernica II onshore wind farm, a two-turbine facility with a total power capacity of 5 MW. Of course, the challenges of such a project are considerable - even more so when undertaking a project in a country for the first time.

Marcin Nawrocki, President of Contino, explains:  "As this was our very first project in Poland, we wanted to ensure that our investment was secure and that every phase of the Building of Plant (BoP) process went to plan, meeting essential health, safety and quality regulations. No part of the construction process could be left to chance. That's why we needed to ensure every milestone of construction was double-checked in strict accordance with local requirements."

As the major investor in the project, Contino needed an expert owner's engineer, providing experienced, qualified specialist staff with the permissions required by Polish Law to undertake a project the size of Kosciernica II. As a result, the group searched for a reliable partner that could provide the specialist knowledge required to implement a successful wind farm project, along with the local experience of the BoP process, and health and safety standards in Poland.

Mr. Nawrocki explains: "We wanted to work with a company that had proven experience in the wind energy business and the expertise required to implement these projects at a local level. We chose SGS because, quite simply, they met all our needs - we can count on their owner's engineer services for a quick response, technical consultancy and tight cooperation with their experts to solve the daily issues that such projects bring." 

The Kosciernica II project required a wide range of skills, which is where SGS's multi-disciplinary contract engineer service really came into play. As Marcin Nawrocki explains: "SGS acted as our owner's engineer for the Kosciernica II project, ensuring all local requirements were met. Their multi-disciplinary team was able to handle the full scope of tasks required to oversee the contract.

"Contino at first had to ensure that all agreements with the main contractors met all mandatory and agreed conditions. SGS provided on-going independent monitoring of the project schedule and ensured delivery to the required quality and technical specifications.
The SGS team ensured that all installations, materials, equipment, facilities and projects met all quality and performance requirements."

So how were the benefits of working with a partner experienced in all aspects of the contract engineer discipline felt by Contino?

Marcin Nawrocki answers: "As a result of the wide-ranging expertise provided by SGS and collaboration with them during the entire investment process, our first project in the West Pomerania province was supervised successfully throughout the entire BoP process, leading to an equally successful launch. We wouldn't hesitate to work with SGS in future. During the construction phase of our forthcoming projects, we will certainly be in contact with SGS again."