First wind farm project to receive a CEEQUAL Award
11 May 2010
E.ON’s proposed Winwick wind farm is the first renewable energy project to receive a CEEQUAL Award. The project, a seven-turbine wind farm to be built in Northamptonshire, was assessed as a Client & Design Award and achieved a ‘Very Good’ Award under the scheme, which promotes environmental and sustainability excellence in civil engineering projects.
Daniel Badcock, E.ON Project Developer, said: “We’re really proud of how we develop our wind farms in a responsible and sustainable manner, and achieving this CEEQUAL award reinforces our commitment to developing renewable energy in the most sustainable way possible…”
E.ON is one of the leading green electricity generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Kintyre. Emma Clark, Senior Consultant at engineering consultancy AECOM who carried out the CEEQUAL assessment, said: “This Award demonstrates E.ON’s commitment to go the ‘extra mile’. When completing the assessment it was good to see that E.ON could be rewarded for the sustainability elements, which they already incorporate into the pre-planning design phases.”
As part of E.ON’s pre-application preparatory work, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out, helping to identify any potential significant effects of the project on the environment.
Emma Marsden from environmental consultancy Entec, who carried out the EIA, said: “CEEQUAL has provided an avenue by which we were able to demonstrate how a number of environmental enhancements have been incorporated into the project. The Award demonstrates the project team's commitment to the environment and desire to go beyond the statutory and regulatory minimum."
The CEEQUAL assessment process allowed the company to carefully consider stakeholder, environment and engineering aspects, resulting in a better and more sustainable design.
E.ON hosted a consultation meeting at which project information was provided and feedback evaluated. The feedback received is reflected in the proposed design now submitted, consisting of seven turbines, each up to 126.5m in height, and supporting infrastructure as well as improvements to the surrounding area that benefit the environment and the community.
The turbines will generate up to 2.5 MW each and the wind farm will have a total capacity of up to 17.5 MW, enough to meet the annual energy needs of up to 7,800 average UK homes. This would save up to 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year for the 25-year operational life of the project. The project will take less than 2% of the site land, so agriculture can continue on the site.
CEEQUAL Chairman, Eric Hughes, said of the Award: “This is the first renewables project to carry out a CEEQUAL assessment and I’m delighted that E.ON’s proposed wind farm at Winwick has achieved a ‘Very Good’ Client & Design Award. This Award also illustrates how CEEQUAL can be applied to the design and construction of any civil engineering project, and we hope to receive many more applications from renewables projects in the future.”