Project Size and Layout
Our original plans laid out two options of either 10 large turbines with 60m towers and 40m blades or 19 smaller turbines with 49m towers and 31m blades, on land around the railway line, south east of North Tawton. Feedback from our consultations was almost unanimous in preferring the option of fewer, larger turbines. This is also the preferred option from a technical viewpoint. It is of utmost importance that the wind farm at Den Brook will do a proper job of generating electricity.
We adapted the design of the wind farm several times during the development and consultation process, following feedback from local residents and environmental and technical experts. For technical reasons, we decided to increase the height of the turbine towers to 80 metres, without significantly increasing overall visual effect of the project (see the photomontages here). At the same time we reduced the number of turbines from 10 to 9.
The layout of the wind farm is shown below:
Other Infrastructure
- Tracks: A network of tracks will be built on site to provide access to each turbine. The tracks will be approximately 5m wide and have been designed, where possible, to run along the edge of field boundaries, in order to avoid disruption to farming activity and recognise environmental constraints, whilst minimising environmental disturbance and land take.
- Road improvements: The majority of suitable onshore sites for wind farms are of a rural or semi-rural nature. Road networks to such sites will often require some degree of upgrading to accommodate construction and turbine delivery traffic. Site entrance options and various on-site and off-site routes have been examined for suitability by an experienced engineer from RES and independent consultants. The preferred route for the abnormal load vehicles (those carrying the blades, tower sections and nacelles of the turbines) will be determined in consultation with the relevant authorities and will seek to minimise disruption to local residents and road users. Traffic management measures will be implemented prior to and during the construction phase in consultation with the relevant Highways Authorities and the police to further minimise any disturbance and ensure the safety of other road users during construction. Increased traffic levels would be experienced intermittently during the 12 months of construction but these effects would be temporary and any disturbance to local residents and other road users will be short term.
- Foundations: The towers will stand on concrete foundations which will be up to 16-18m in diameter and 2-3.5m in depth according to ground conditions found at each turbine location. Apart from the turbine plinth, to which the turbine tower is attached, the foundation surface lies up to 1m below the normal ground surface and is back filled with soil.
- Tracks: A network of tracks will be built on site to provide access to each turbine. The tracks will be approximately 5m wide and have been designed, where possible, to run along the edge of field boundaries, in order to avoid disruption to farming activity and recognise environmental constraints, whilst minimising environmental disturbance and land take.