Project Update
Following a public inquiry held in 2004, planning consent was granted by the Secretary of State on the 25th May 2005 for Scout Moor Wind Farm. Since this time Peel, and its development team, have been finalising the detailed design of the project.
Construction of the wind farm has now commenced, and this page is aimed at keeping local residents and others with an interest in the development of the wind farm informed of it current progress.
Project update August 2008
As of the 26th August 2008 21 of 26 turbines have been commissioned. Of the three electrical circuits that make up the wind farm one circuit of turbines is fully completed with the second set expected to be completed at the end of August.
Commissioning and testing of the turbines is the last stage in the installation and construction of the wind farm. It is a lengthy process in which the individual turbine control systems are installed. During this time the electrical and mechanical systems are set-up, calibrated and fine tuned to ensure that the wind farm operates at the capacity intended to produce as much electricity as possible. The cabling works, which include the installation of many kilometres of fibre-optic cable need to be installed during the internal fitting out of the wind turbines, and linked from each individual turbine to the central system control known as the SCADA.
The SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is a computer system which collects data from each turbine on the performance of that turbine in real time. Data from the turbines is logged and any faults that may occur with the turbines are recorded here. If a fault occurs with a wind turbine it is recorded, and an instant message, either through email or SMS text to mobile numbers is sent, so that the problem can be fixed in a short space of time and thereby minimising turbine downtime.
In order to make sure that all the turbines are working and commissioned properly and to ensure the turbine control and SCADA equipment is functioning properly it is sometimes necessary to turn turbines on and off intermittently, this will take place until the completion and final commissioning of the wind farm. On some occasions during this commissioning period a turbine that might have been running for a period of time will have to be switched off, or run at a lower production output whilst any defects are identified and fixed to ensure that the turbine is operating correctly and will continue to do so for the next 25 years.
To date the wind farm has produced over 4,000 MWh of electricity which has been exported to the National Grid.
Project update June 2008
All turbines have been installed, and finishing and commisioning works are continuing to all turbines. It is anticipated that generation of electricity from the wind farm will increase over the coming weeks as the tests to the turbines are completed.
Project update April 2008
Construction of wind farm has picked up pace recently and there are currently 16 turbines erected, and works are underway to complete the complex electronic, fibre optic and other control systems of each turbine. Once these systems are fitted each turbine will then be subject to rigorous testing and commissioning procedures, and once complete they will be ready for generation of electricity.
Turbines 25 and 15 are currently generating electricity, with Turbine 19 expected to begin generation very soon.
The commissioning of the installed turbines will occur at the same time as the remaining 10 turbines are erected and made ready for internal fitting out as described above. This will result in some turbines generating electricity whilst others are being installed, and commissioned at other locations across the site.
Project update February 2008
Three turbines have been fully erected (T19, T21 and T15), and currently there are four other turbines waiting for the blades to be fitted. Poor weather including high winds and freezing conditions have restricted progress recently and the current anticipated date for completion of the turbine erection is in June 2008.
All other major aspects of the wind farm have been constructed and the current expected completion date for the project construction is in July 2008.
Project update November 2007.
Scout Moor Wind Farm – Turbine Transport
Following completion of the civil engineering work on the Scout Moor Wind Farm project the site is now ready to begin taking delivery of the 26 turbines that will be erected to complete the next major phase in the construction of the wind farm.
Over the next 6 months, between November 2007 (expected delivery to be from the week commencing 19th November 2007 onwards) and March 2008 the component parts of the turbines, which will include tower sections, blades, and the nacelle (which houses the electrical generator, gearbox and other control mechanics) will be transported from the Nordex manufacturing plant in Germany to Scout Moor.
The component parts will be shipped to Hull, and from there they will be transported by HGV along the M62, M60 and the M66. From the M66 the transport vehicles and will continue along the A56 northbound, leaving at the A680/B6527 junction. The vehicles will turn south onto the B6527, and continue under the A56 on Blackburn Road to Edenfield. The vehicles will travel through Edenfield to the Scout Moor Quarry entrance.
This route was considered during the public inquiry and deemed to be appropriate by the Planning Inspector, and subsequently approved by the Secretary of State. In addition Nordex the manufacturer of the turbine who will be responsible for the delivery of the turbines to the site have been granted the necessary permits by the Highways Agency for the large vehicles.
Lancashire County Council have prepared the route in anticipation of the turbine deliveries and have completed works to street furniture to facilitate the movement of the turbine delivery vehicles through Edenfield, and other sections of the public highway.
Deliveries will have a Police Escort and will be taken Monday to Saturday sometime between the hours of 10am and 2pm, which has been agreed with the relevant authorities in order to avoid the peak rush hour times, and also to avoid the ‘school run’ in order to minimise disruption to the public. No deliveries will be taken outside of this window, and therefore if there are any delays during the journey the convoy will wait at a service station on the motorway network until the next day to make delivery.
Between November and March there will be a ‘’no waiting’’ restriction enforced between the hours of 10am and 2pm on the eastern side of Market Street in order to allow the vehicles to safely pass through the village. In addition, during the 20-30min period between 10am and 2pm when the turbine delivery is being made the police will also enforce a traffic movement restriction which will allow the vehicles to safely pass
through the village. Once the vehicles have passed through after this short period of time the traffic flow restriction will be lifted.
The vehicles length will vary dependant on the components being transported, but the maximum length will be approximately 44m. Given the scale of these vehicles they will only be able to move at low speed on the roads from the motorway and through Edenfield. These vehicles will travel in convoys of three, and it is expected that there will be one convoy per day arriving at the site between November and March, dependant on the build rate of the turbines on the moor.
Given the low speed, and the fact that the axle loads on each of the axles is lower than that for the normally loaded HGV’s that regularly use the roads around Edenfield there will be no adverse impacts on the structure and integrity of buildings that line the road, or the road itself.
No turbines deliveries will be taken over the two week Christmas and New Year period, between the 21st December 2007 and 3rd January 2008.
Every effort has been made to reduce any disruption to local residents and road users to a minimum.
Project Update for August 2007.
All turbine foundation works are now completed, and are ready for the first turbines to be delivered during the early part of November.
Turbines will be delivered and erected at a rate of approximately 2 turbines per week, and it is therefore expected that there will be approximately 13 weeks during which turbines will be delivered to the site. Given the Christmas and New Year holiday period, and the likelihood of further inclement weather, the anticipated completion date for the delivery and installation of all turbines will be March 2008. Each long length HGV lorry will be subject to police supervision.
Once each lorry has delivered its load to the site it will be able to shorten its length, and therefore disruption to the local highway network by these vehicles will be minimised.
Off – site works to the public highway are currently being undertaken by Lancashire County Council’s appointed contractor. These works will facilitate the movement of the long length vehicles required to transport the turbine components to the site.
The route which the turbines will take can be viewed here >>
Further works on site itself include dressing of the access roads in anticipation of the delivery of the turbines, earthing works for each turbine, and finishing the works for the lifting crane support pads at each turbine location.
April 2007
The access roads across the moor have been completed to all turbine positions, and maintenance of these roads will continue throughout the construction period as the heavy machinery tracks over them.
Crane pads have been installed at each of the turbine positions, and will provide the necessary support for the cranes used to erect each turbine into position.
At eight turbine locations the concrete foundations have been cast. A further number of bases have been excavated with concrete blinding in preparation for steel fixing and subsequent casting of the concrete bases.
Work at the substation site is ongoing. Construction of the United Utilities building is complete, with a further building and equipment yet to be erected.
February 2007
A significant proportion of the access track across the moor has now been completed, and these access tracks will provide the access routes to the various turbine positions for the heavy machinery needed to erect the turbines.
Excavations to accommodate the turbine foundations have been completed at 6 of the proposed turbine positions. These have been lined with a concrete blinding in preparation for the construction of the foundations. These works and the remaining turbine positions continues in line with the construction programme.
Drilling and grouting of the turbine bases themselves has also begun for a number of the turbines.
Work at the substation building is ongoing and is expected to be complete in the Spring. November – January 2007
The first stage of the construction programme began on site, and consists of constructing and installation of a significant proportion of the civil engineering infrastructure. This included modifying and upgrading the access track up to the site, and the laying of the 12km of access tracks, which begin from Scout Moor Quarry and extended eastwards across the moor.
Work has also begun on the substation needed for the wind farm, which will be located south of the A680 and near to the Ashworth Moor Reservoir.
May 2005 – September 2006
During the detailed design of the project, consultants and engineers acting on behalf of Peel carried out various surveys and site investigation works that were required to finalise the position of the wind turbines, and various other associated infrastructure.
Various schemes were submitted to the local planning authorities in order to comply with conditions attached to the planning permission.
The detailed design was completed during summer 2006, and the contracts for the project were subsequently awarded.
Continual updates will be provided during the construction process.
The key milestone dates in the construction programme are as follows (subject to change):
- Civil Infrastructure Completed – September 2007
- First Turbine delivery – November 2007
- Turbine Erection Completed – March 2008
- Full Generation – June 2008
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