Barrett Byrd Associates

Wind power is key to achieving Government targets for the UK to generate 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2010, according to engineering consultant Gifford which predicts a sharp increase in work from this sector.

The days of smoke belching from coal fired power stations are numbered because of current economics of gas fired generation and the need for greener electricity generation demanded in the Government’s Energy White Paper. The White Paper, published in April, sets out plans for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and also repeats the Government’s target of increasing electricity generation from renewable sources to 10% by 2010. The recent ICE audit on the state of the nation’s energy infrastructure has also highlighted the strategic dangers of heavy reliance on remotely sourced gas.

Wind power is a proven and cost effective technology and, according to multidisciplinary consultant Gifford, it is the best option to meet the Government’s renewable energy targets. Gifford is currently working on a £25M onshore wind farm project for Windjen Power in North Wales and has a long history of working on development of alternative energy sources.

Engineering design work on the Tir Mostyn and Foel Goch Wind Farm near Denbigh only began earlier this summer but the 25 turbine site should be up and running later this year. “Wind farms can be designed, constructed and online very quickly which makes them an ideal means to meet the Government’s targets on time,” says Gifford business development manager Chris Gooch-Butler. “The Tir Mostyn site will be capable of generating 32.5MW once it is complete, and is one of many wind power schemes currently being developed in the UK.”

The company was also involved, as a part of joint venture with Ramboll and Fehily Timoney Gifford, in development of what could be Europe’s largest offshore windfarm at Arklow Bank in Ireland. The site is still at the planning stage but could eventually comprise of 500 turbines.

Gifford first became involved with alternative energy technologies in the 1970s and once had the world’s most advanced wave testing tank and subsequently set up a turbine blade development and manufacturing facility at its Southampton headquarters. “Thirty years ago most alternative energy research projects were funded by the Government but today most schemes are privately financed,” says Gooch-Butler.

Gifford closed its wave tank after Government funding for wave and wind power dried up in the early 1980s and sold its composite turbine blade business, which is still flourishing in other hands.

"We were interested in developing epoxy timber technology for large wind turbine blades. Once we were past the first development stages and we were responsible for manufacturing several hundred turbine blades for wind farms in California, we decided that manufacturing on this scale was not compatible with our consultancy business. Despite that change in Government policy we could see that renewable energy sources would have a lot to offer in the future,” says Gooch-Butler.

Recent earth summits and the Kyoto Climate Conference in 1997 have helped refocus Government attention on the need to replace carbon dioxide producing forms of energy generation with greener renewable sources. The UK has agreed to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 60% by 2050 and the Energy White Paper sets out the Government’s plan to achieve this.

“The Government wants to reduce energy consumption while increasing use of carbon free energy sources to achieve its targets,” says Gooch-Butler. “At the moment around 70% of the renewable energy generated in the UK comes from hydro electric schemes.

“But there is a large, and presently almost untapped, potential for wind energy generation, and it has the added advantage that the capital costs are much lower than hydro. The key will be to have smaller clusters of turbines dotted all over the country rather than a few massive wind farms comprising of several hundred turbines which have been mooted in the past.”

The consultant also believes that offshore wind farms have a major part to play and has been involved in several schemes of this kind and is currently working on the development of a 30 turbine farm at Burbo Bank in Liverpool Bay with Seascape.

Gifford is currently undertaking a multidisciplinary design package for Windjen’s Tir Mostyn site which, according to Gooch-Butler, allows the whole project to be value engineered. “Our remit includes everything from environmental impact assessments, archaeological studies and geotechnical site investigation through to foundation design, complex structural design – including fatigue loading analysis – and mechanical & electrical design,” he says.

“Keeping all the engineering processes in-house allow the project to be streamlined through full integration of the project team.”

According to Gooch-Butler, the Government’s target of increasing renewable energy production is possible only if the momentum of the last few years continues to increase. “The Tir Mostyn scheme was caught up in red tape for several years until it was given the go-ahead in April this year,” he says. “Now there is a new Energy White Paper in place, a clearer message is being sent to local planning authorities.

“We should also be looking at what other countries are doing. Denmark has a lot of wind farms and uses a variety of different turbine types; not all wind farms have to comprise of huge turbines and use of more but smaller turbines could be equally effective in meeting our targets.”

Gifford is currently negotiating with a number of other electricity generating companies for further wind farm schemes, but Gooch-Butler is convinced that the current trickle will become a flood of work before long. “Wind power is the way forward for electricity in the UK,” he says. “When whole life cycle and environmental costs are accounted for it becomes extremely attractive when compared with traditional generation methods both in terms of capital cost and cost to the environment.”

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