Planning Supporting Statement - Partnerships for Renewables

Louth Canal Wind Energy Development
Site Operation and Maintenance
3.2.5 Wind turbines are designed to operate largely unattended. Each turbine at the Louth Canal
Wind Energy Development would be fitted with an automatic system designed to supervise
and control a number of parameters to ensure optimal performance (e.g. start-up and shutdown,
rotor direction, and blade pitch angles etc) and to monitor wellbeing (e.g. generator
temperature). The control system would automatically shut the turbine down should the need
arise. Sometimes the turbines would re-start automatically (if the shut-down had been for high
winds or if the grid voltage had fluctuated outwith range), but other shut-downs (e.g. generator
over temperature) would require investigation and manual restart.
3.2.6 The wind turbines will each have an ice detector on the roof of the nacelle that measures
outside temperature and relative air humidity. If pre-set values are exceeded the blades are
stopped by the control system of the turbine. After shutdown due to icing, the turbine can only
be restarted manually following on-site inspection to ensure that the turbine blades are free of
ice, thereby eliminating the potential for ice-throw.
3.2.7 The wind farm itself will have a sophisticated overall Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
system (SCADA) that would continuously interrogate each of the turbines and the high voltage
(HV) connection. If a fault were to develop which required an operator to intervene then the
SCADA system would make contact with on-duty staff via email or a mobile messaging
system. The supervisory control system could be interrogated remotely. The SCADA system
would have a feature to allow a remote operator to shut down one or all of the wind turbines.
3.2.8 An operator would be employed to monitor the turbines, largely through remote routine
interrogation of the SCADA system. The operator would also look after the day-to-day logistical
supervision of the site and would periodically be on site.
Construction
3.2.9 The construction period for the Louth Canal Wind Energy Development will last approximately
four to six months and will comprise the following activities:
Construction of access junction to A1031 Fen Lane;
Formation of construction compound including hard standing and temporary site office
facilities;
Construction of new access track and tracks to turbine locations;
Construction/amendment of access into EA flood reservoir;
Construction of crane hard standing areas;
Construction of turbine foundations;
Construction of control/substation building;
Excavation of trenches and cable laying adjacent to site tracks where feasible;
Connection of on-site electricity distribution and communications cables;
Delivery and erection of wind turbines;
Commissioning of site equipment; and
Site restoration.
March 2012 5 Planning Supporting Statement
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