AMEC Submits Planning Application for Ray Wind Farm

A planning application for the Ray wind farm has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by AMEC's wind energy business. The submission signals the beginning of the formal consultation process and follows a series of public exhibitions held in September.

The proposed wind farm will consist of a maximum of 20 wind turbines on Ray Estate, near Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland. With an anticipated installed capacity of 60MW the wind farm could provide an amount of green electricity equivalent to that required to satisfy the domestic needs of around 33,500 households. This equates to approximately 25% of Northumberland's population.

AMEC's wind energy business, based in Hexham, started to investigate the Ray Estate site in the early 1990's. Development work was delayed while discussions were held with the Ministry of Defence to get clearance to pursue the development. The result of this delay has been a more detailed understanding of the local environment and a proposal that will provide a large amount of green electricity while sympathetically sitting within the environment surrounding it.

The site has been designed to minimise impact on the local landscape, complies with regional and local planning policy guidance for renewable energy development and is sited outside of any nationally designated areas. AMEC has incorporated the information gained from environmental studies within the design of the proposed wind farm. Some of these features include:

·  Floating roads* that will be used for the majority of site access roads to minimise
   impacts on local ecology, hydrology and archaeology.
·  Avoidance of sensitive bird nesting areas.
·  A Habitat Management Plan that will be implemented which will include measures
   to restore and enhance moorland habitats to the north of the site.
·  Avoidance of known archaeology to ensure that there is no direct impact.

David Hodkinson managing director of AMEC's wind energy business, based in Hexham, commented: "We have worked very hard to address environmental issues during the design of the proposal and are pleased that our final submission has been designed sympathetically to the surrounding local environment. The Ray wind farm would generate a significant amount of electricity from a clean and sustainable energy source and contribute in the fight against climate change which is widely recognised as the biggest environmental threat facing the planet."

He continued: "AMEC's policy is to develop wind farms that make a positive contribution to the local economy, through job creation, sustainable investment in community initiatives, and rental payments to landowners supporting their land management activities. In respect of the investment in community initiatives, our policy is to encourage the local communities to decide how they wish to manage and allocate funds from the wind farm."

Commenting on concerns that the area could be covered in wind turbines due to the number of potential projects in the region David said: "The planning process considers the effects of individual wind farm applications on a stand alone basis and in combination with other proposed developments. We feel from our experience, in other parts of the UK, that it is very unlikely that all of the current wind farm plans in this area of Northumberland will secure planning consent. Through the detailed environmental work we have carried out, we are confident that our proposal is appropriate for the environment in which it is sited."

A full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was submitted along with the planning application. The EIA outlines how the final wind farm layout was designed incorporating the results of detailed environmental studies. The full planning submission will be presented at public exhibitions early in the New Year.

*  A ‘floating road’, where the road is constructed on top of a geotextile surface laid directly on to the peat, rather than being excavated, is generally only built where peat depths exceed approximately 1 m. Investigations have indicated that peat depths along the course of the road would be less than 1 m for 90 % of the route, therefore ordinarily the roads would be excavated. However, because of environmental benefits, floating roads would be the preferred option. It is estimated that 70-90 % of the site access road will be floated, particularly for areas of ecological, archaeological or hydrological significance.

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Posted 13/01/06

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