In conversation with Ton Schaaper – Project supervisor at Equans
“The customer always makes the choice: security or money”
Ton Schaaper has been active in technical services throughout his entire working life. At his current employer Equans West, he sees the projects becoming more and more sustainable. These projects often involve huge investments and stakeholders want as few risks as possible. Clients often call on the technical expertise of Equans.
Sustainable projects such as the construction of a solar or wind farm are often lengthy projects. Last year, the expansion of a large wind farm started: SGF (Smart Grid Flevoland), to which Windplan Groen is connected as a co-generator. This plan is part of the Regional Plan for Wind Energy of the province of Flevoland (Netherlands), which consists of four sub-areas. This involves the replacement of 17 wind turbines and the connection of various solar parks to SGF’s distribution network. These old turbines from 2006 are being replaced by a new type that generate almost three times as much power.
LoviSil® technology – robust solution
Ton Schaaper has worked with LoviSil® cable joints in previous projects and had good experiences with this: “In this project we were free to choose cable joints and the LoviSil® joint still wins in terms of quality, robustness and the installation, also very important in this type of project, no mistakes are made”. Many customers are reasonably technically well informed and in some cases they make their own choices. “When customers ask for our advice, I try to get a picture: is it about minimizing risks and security or are they more budget-bound and are they opting for a cheaper solution. In principle, the final decision always rests with the client,” says Ton.
Cross-bonding
The first LoviSil® straight joints and cross-bonding joints for the SGF project were installed in 2022. The LoviSil® cross-bonding joint is more often used for sustainable parks. This often concerns long cable lengths and the use of the cross-bonding joint reduces the circulating currents in the metallic earth screens. Cable losses are reduced and electricity distribution is optimized.
Cooperation
Ton has experienced various mergers and name changes of his employer. That was of course switching every time, but it was always a step forward. And not unimportantly, the fine culture remained the same. He also experiences a pleasant culture at Lovink: “You notice that people really go for cooperation, they are always available and questions are answered quickly and properly.”
