Member Article

Preston in £250,000 in wind energy deal

Plans for a civic wind energy scheme in Preston are moving forward with the appointment of engineering and design consultancy, Hyder Consulting (UK) Limited.

As specialists in wind and renewable energy projects, Hyder will be advising the council on the next steps of the project including erecting an 80m wind test mast.

Councillor Robert Boswell, cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “Preston’s civic wind energy scheme could be worth up to £50m for the city and local communities. The appointment of Hyder is an important step.

“Hyder will be helping the council to assess whether the scheme is viable. This includes putting up the test mast to measure wind speeds.

“Work is set to start in January and it will take at least a year before we know whether wind speeds will be enough to generate electricity at sufficient levels to make the scheme viable. Hyder will also be advising on other aspects of the project such as the engineering and environmental challenges.

“Clearly generating income for the city is a major factor given the huge budget cuts being placed on us by Government, but the project is about much more than this. As we have unfortunately seen with recent extreme weather events, climate change is real and its affects are devastating.

“Moving towards green, renewable energy has to be the way forward and we are pleased to be leading the way and exploring renewable energy options for the benefit of Preston and society as a whole.”

Simon Randall, Managing Director (Energy & Environment) of Hyder, added: “Hyder is delighted to be working with Preston City Council on this exciting project. As a civic green energy scheme, with all profits going back to the local community, it is an innovative and pioneering endeavour, and one that Hyder is pleased to support.

“While we recognise that there is much to do before the scheme can proceed, as one of the UK’s leading renewable energy engineering consultancies, we are committed to doing what we can to help the council move this project forward.”

The proposed civic wind energy scheme would be managed by the council on behalf of the city and communities of Preston.

There are only a handful of civic energy schemes in the UK; Wrexham operates a community solar facility and Bristol City Council is also exploring the potential of wind energy. With civic energy schemes, profits made by selling the energy to the national grid are re-invested back into the local area. In August 2012, planning permission was approved to erect a test wind mast at land at Wallend Road, Preston.

The council is to finalise plans for the erection of this wind test mast by submitting final designs for approval to the Planning Committee at its meeting in January 2014. This is land owned by the council, close to the River Ribble.

The council argues that wind power is needed to help the UK meet its targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions; the UK has a target to deliver 15% of the UK’s energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020.

One 1.8 MW wind turbine at a reasonable site would produce over 4.7 million units of electricity each year, enough to meet the annual needs of over 1,000 households.

As well as wind energy, the council has installed solar panels on the roof of the Town Hall.

Hyder Consulting is a leading multinational design and engineering consultancy renowned for working on some of the world’s most iconic buildings and structures. These include Sydney Harbour Bridge, Tower Bridge in London and the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .