Green Issues

A decision to give the green light to a wind farm development at Wear Point near Milford Haven will add enough clean power to the grid to supply over 5,500 households each year, the equivalent of 11% of homes in Pembrokeshire.

Royal Haskoning, an independent firm of environmental scientists and civil engineers, carried out the environmental impact assessment and produced the environmental statement. The company also produced the planning application and supporting documents on behalf of the Wind Farm developer Infinergy.

Rufus Howard, project manager at Royal Haskoning, commented: “The new wind farm at Wear Point furthers Milford Haven’s reputation as a national energy hub, showing progressive development from traditional energy sources such as oil and LNG, through to new, clean renewable production.”

Located close to a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), as well as being located on historically contaminated brownfield land, the wind farm site presented Royal Haskoning with unique environmental challenges.

Howard continued: “The site had previously been heavily investigated prior to Royal Haskoning commencing the scoping study, which provided us with a lot of existing data on which to base initial judgements. This was then complemented with targeted environmental studies to assess, amongst other issues, the ecological habitats that might be affected, health & safety issues, visual implications and noise impacts of the development.”

Lorraine Dallmeier, project director at Infinergy, said: “The brownfield site was an ideal location, with excellent average wind speeds. This is a decision that will certainly assist the global battle of tackling accelerated climate change and is something that we should all be proud of.”

Infinergy aims to have the wind farm operational by the end of 2012.
www.royalhaskoning.co.uk