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Landowners & farmers: Turbine installation
What is involved?
The installation of a wind farm takes no more than six months.
The actual construction process is a series of distinct activities
that can be planned in
association with the landowner so as to minimise disruption
to farming activities.
Once the turbines are in place, normal farming can go on around
them. There is no requirement to fence off the towers and the
rotating blades are well clear of the ground.
Tower Base
The turbines are built on concrete slab foundations. These slabs
are around 14x14 metres (46 feet) by 2 metres (6.6 feet) deep.
They are buried below normal ploughing depth, at least 1m below
ground surface. Consequently, arable farming can continue right
up to the base of the 4 metre (13-foot) diameter towers. The
turbines are connected together by underground cables, which
again are buried
below ploughing depth, approximately 1m below ground surface.
Cables can usually be routed along tracks or field boundaries
to miminise disruption.
Roads
For access to the turbines, we require stone roads that are
5m (about 16 feet) wide. Like the cables, we can normally route
the roads to follow existing tracks or field boundaries. Once
built, the roads must remain in place for access to carry out
maintenance or repairs and are available for farm use.
Once Operating
When the turbines are in operation, normal requirements for
access are limited. Unless there is a (rare) major fault, maintenance
will be undertaken from a small van every three months. The
turbines are monitored remotely via a telephone line
so there is no need for more frequent visits. The control systems
in the turbines are fail safe, so if a fault does occur the
turbines stop automatically and
communicate with the operating company via the telephone line.
Turbine Details
Modern wind turbines typically have a hub height of 68 metres
(223 feet) and a blade diameter of 62 metres (203 feet). When
the blade passes its highest point, the tip will be at 99 metres
(325 feet). At the lowest point, the tips are typically 37 metres
(121 feet) in the air. For safety and turbine performance, it
is necessary to have a separation between turbines equivalent
to approximately 5 blade diameters, around 300 metres.
A small building in the order of 6 x 8 metres is required to
house a meeting point for the cables from the individual turbines.
This is called a switch gear house. From the switch gear house,
a main cable will run underground to a local substation,
hence there will be no new electricity pylons. Despite the number
of turbines, only one switchgear house is required per windcluster.
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Statistics
• Construction area: 1660m2
(only during construction)
• Crane hard-standing: 80m2
• Turning circle: 256m2
• Accessway: 500m2 per 100m of road
• Switchgear house: 48m2
This means that less than 1 acre per turbine is lost for agricultural
production, generally allowing 99% of windcluster site area to
be utilised as it was previously.
Interested?
Then please contact us:
Wind Prospect Ltd
7 Berkeley Square
Clifton
BRISTOL BS8 1HG
UK
t: +44 (0)117 925 7798
f: +44 (0)117 945 2493
e: info@windprospect.com
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