As a chief consultant in Ramboll’s division for offshore wind, I manage projects with clients from all over the world and present them with sustainable, technically sound and cost-effective solutions.
When I moved to Denmark from Portugal, I knew it was going to be a change. I knew there was going to be wind, rain and snow and I would need an extra layer of clothes to survive. But I would also get to work in one of the leading countries within offshore wind and, more specifically, within offshore foundations for wind turbines.
When designing offshore wind foundations, there are a lot of parameters at the location to consider: wind, waves, geotechnical profiles, access, safety – you name it. To achieve an optimal solution, you need to include a range of different specialties. In Ramboll, we can reach out to so many people with different backgrounds and fields of expertise, and I think that is one of the great things about our organisation.
It is a fascinating process to see something you sketched in a drawing become an actual life-size structure. With offshore wind foundations, it is quite special because they are sometimes taller than even Big Ben, for example. Put a turbine on top and they can get taller than the Eiffel tower!
I think everyone is driven by something, whether you are an engineer or not. But for me, it is rewarding to know that I am doing something major for the environment and for society on the long-term scale. We may not see the effects just now, but I believe – and I think all my colleague here agree – that what we do is relevant in relation to controlling climate change, for example.
One of my dreams would be to live long enough to see a society working purely on renewables. That would be really something.
