What Makes A Good Site?
Although single medium sized wind turbines can be accommodated in many places, there are a number of factors that have to be considered to achieve a successful planning consent.
- Sites with a good average wind speed are required for the efficient operation of the wind turbine. A windy site will therefore produce significantly more energy. The windier the site the more electricity produced and consequently the greater the revenues.
- The electricity generated by the turbine is fed into the National Grid via a small on-site switching station to a grid point. Generally, we require a three phase 11kV grid to be within close proximity of the site depending on turbine size and wind speed.
- We look to locate wind turbines outside areas of important landscape and ecological designations such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), National Parks and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). Ecological surveying and landscape appraisals are usually conducted as part of the planning application.
- Modern wind turbines are extremely quiet. It is possible to hold a normal conversation directly under a wind turbine without the need to raise your voice. Using computer software we are able to accurately model the noise from the turbine and by ensuring a large buffer distance to nearby housing, any noise from the wind turbine is kept to an absolute minimum and certainly not of a level that would cause annoyance.
