Expanding In-House Capabilities with Civil 3D

EDF Renewables Distribution-Scale Power group is a leader in developing and building renewable energy power plants in the continental U.S. The team relies on outside resources to perform surface grading and cut/fill calculations for their solar project sites using Autodesk Civil 3D. They came to Autodesk Solution Provider CADD Microsystems with a desire to establish internal knowledge and processes that would allow them to bring this civil work in-house. They previously worked with CADD to develop AutoCAD standards, which they are effectively using, maintaining, and expanding upon. Given this success, the Distribution-Scale Power team engaged with CADD to standardize their Civil 3D workflows as well.

EDF Renewables wanted to determine the best workflows in Civil 3D to meet their unique project needs.  They also needed to train their users to enable them to perform the required civil work in-house.

To determine the best workflows in Civil 3D for the EDF Renewables engineering team, the CADD Consultant began by completing a workflow assessment. They reviewed two completed projects and met with one of the company’s external resources to assess needs and discuss the current workflow. They then developed a recommended workflow to meet project needs and provided a demonstration of the workflow to key stakeholders. Finally, they further refined the workflow based on feedback from the stakeholder review.

After the workflow was reviewed and approved, the CADD Consultant developed a series of custom, live lecture-style instructional sessions outlining the use of existing AutoCAD standards along with Civil 3D in the specialized workflow. These classes were held virtually as a series of short sessions to accommodate the users’ schedules.

The CADD Consultant provided a detailed instruction manual outlining the recommended workflows that users continue to adhere to for projects. After the completion of the workflow development and the custom instruction, users were equipped with the knowledge and necessary resources that allowed them to bring their Civil 3D work in-house. This will allow the team to have more ownership in their project life cycles, reduce data silos created when involving a 3^rd party project consultant, and save money by making this workflow a part of their internal processes and user expertise.

The CADD consulting team continues to provide additional instruction and support to the engineering team as they continue to optimize their use of Civil 3D in their site project work.

Delivery Date

Project Duration

Autodesk Solutions

• Civil 3D

Services Provided

• Assessment of Needs
• Strategy & Planning
• Workflow Optimization
• Training

Customer Industry