This single turbine wind power development in Pembrokeshire, utilises a Norvento nED 100 turbine. Renewables First were responsible for the pre-installation phases, including the all important site finding, detailed feasibility and planning applications.
With the wind turbine commissioning complete, the turbine was officially handed over to Blacktoft Nursery. Four months later in spring sunshine, we returned to the site and took a selection of photographs of the 500 kW wind turbine in operation.
With the bulk of the civil engineering aspects of the Blacktoft Nursery project in place, the electrical and mechanical hardware can now be implemented. This transition was dramatically marked by the wind turbine delivery, which took place without a hitch a few days ago.
As work on the the Blacktoft Nursery wind development progresses, final works to the turbine foundations are near completion.
The last few weeks has witnessed excavation works and the construction of the turbine foundations. This is a major part of the Blacktoft scheme.
Due to the location of Blacktoft Nursery, a new track is created to enable large vehicular access to the wind turbine site.
Blacktoft Nursery will soon be home to a single turbine wind development. The development will comprise an EWT DW54 Wind turbine with a generating capacity of 500 kW (0.5 MW).
The 500 kW wind turbine at Blacktoft Nursery could generate 1,726,095 kWh of electricity per year, which is equivalent to the amount of electricity used annually by 405 average households.
With the turbine foundations and all electrical components in place, the Hibaldstow wind turbine was ready for installation – despite the lousy weather!
Given their experience and technical expertise, Renewables First were hired to specify and design the scheme, as well as project manage the civil, mechanical and electrical components of the project. The sequence of pictures below illustrate some of the key activities in the run up to installing the EWT 500 kW turbine.
The newly installed EWT 500 kW wind turbine at Baulker Farm is performing to expectation and makes the site almost self sufficient in electricity. Renewables First has project managed the design and installation of the scheme from the instant the client obtained planning permission.
Once the Baulker Farm wind turbine was installed, the commissioning and handover day provided an opportunity to ascend the turbine tower to the hub, in order to check everything is as it should be – as well as provide an opportunity to take some pictures!
When assembling the hub and wind turbine blades, the challenge at Baulker Farm was one of space limitations due to the proximity of farm buildings and the large chicken sheds. With the rotor blade diameter of the EWT 500 kW turbine being 54 metres, a large surface area was required.
The turbine generator is first lifted from its horizontal position on the delivery vehicle into a vertical position, ready for it to be fixed to the nacelle at the top of the turbine tower.
With the lower tower section in place, the next phase of the wind turbine installation involves the upper tower section being installed. As with the lower section, both the main and tail cranes were used for the initial lifting until the section was vertical, at which point the main crane took over.
With the turbine foundations completed, the site was ready for the DW54 EWT 500 kW turbine to be installed. The first to arrive was the lifting crane. This was a 1000 tonne mobile crane, required to lift the huge 30 tonne tower sections and generator up and over the chicken shed!
The site at baulker farm is also interesting in that there were challenges with the wind turbine earthing. This is because the ground is comprised mostly of sand which has a very low conductivity.
Having completed the initial foundations for the Powerwind turbine, Powerwind then ceased trading. This meant that the completed Powerwind foundation then had to be adapted to accommodate a different turbine – in this instance, Renewables First specified a DW54 EWT 500 kW turbine.
Having already obtained planning permission to install a 500 kW wind turbine, Baulker Farm approached Renewables First having becoming aware of their expertise and experience with project managing wind and hydro systems.
Renewables First have considerable experience and full project capability, from initial feasibility studies through to system design and installation for Hydro, Wind, PV, Energy Storage Systems, Water and Ground Source Heat Pump Systems.
We also specialise in consultancy for Energy independence / Back-up electricity systems, Net zero energy production, Off-grid / Standalone and Remote power systems
Please contact us about your low carbon energy project today.