An Suidhe Wind Farm electrical infrastructure contract
Projects has been awarded a £1.8m electrical infrastructure contract at An Suidhe Wind Farm in East Lochawside, Argyll & Bute.
The 23-turbine wind farm is located five miles west of Inverary and stretches across an exposed, uninhabited hill with high wind speeds. There are many water courses of varying sizes throughout the site, which, combined with the exposed location will provide a very challenging environment for the works.
The eight-month electrical project marks the first with customer RWE Npower Renewables and their civil infrastructure contractor; this underpins Balfour Beatty Engineering Services drive to expand its customer base.
Operations manager Alan McCann said: “We are looking forward to establishing a strong working relationship with RWE Npower Renewables and will bring all our experience in sustainable energy provision to the project. We hope that future successes on this project will result in further work with RWE Npower Renewables.”
Approximately 16 craft operatives will work on the project at the height of the works and they are preparing for the quickly changing micro climate weather conditions expected during the works.
The winter months will be particularly challenging with the snow and ice adding to the difficulties of all the existing site watercourses. The team will be required to remain vigilant at all times to ensure health and safety is the top priority.
It is the first time that the Projects team has worked with Enercon wind turbines, further expanding their experience and knowledge in the renewables sector. The 80-metre high turbines will produce 21MW of electricity and are expected to power 11,000 homes a year. An Suidhe’s local community will benefit from an annual “community fund” for the life of the wind farm.
Posted: Wednesday 11 November 2009