Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK, the contractor for the 96MW Clocaenog Forest wind farm, has completed the construction of concrete pours for the turbines bases at the wind farm.
Image: Jones Bros reaches significant milestone for Welsh wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Albert Lazcano/FreeImages.com.
The Clocaenog Forest wind farm will be powered by 27 turbines and is located 16km from Jones Bros’ head office and training centre in Ruthin, Denbighshire.
The wind farm, with its installed capacity of 96MW, will supply enough electricity to nearly 63,800 UK households every year. innogy Renewables UK, the owner of the project, is investing nearly £120m. The construction phase of the project is expected to generate significant opportunities for the local supply chain.
innogy stated that the Welsh government has specifically designated the site as suitable for large scale development of renewable energy
As per Jones Bros, each of the turbine bases has used an average of 640m3 of concrete and 90 tonnes of reinforcement steel. Jones Bros will now work on cabling and prepare the turbine areas for deliveries of the turbine components, which are due to start this year.
The civil engineering company, which was appointed by innogy Renewables UK, has used on-site batching plants to mix concrete at the location, which has reduced vehicle journeys to and from the wind farm.
Jones Bros site agent Rhys Roberts said: “I’m very proud of the team for its work during the last eight months to deliver these turbine bases to a high standard. Having our own batching plants has been hugely beneficial to not just ourselves but to local residents, who have experienced less traffic on the roads than they would have if we transported it in.
“For us, we were able to produce material at a rate to suit operations, and we could also monitor production for consistency and quality which helped to avoid unnecessary delays.”
In addition to completing the work on turbine bases, the company claims to have built 8km of new access tracks, upgraded 20km of existing tracks, and installed crane pads, along with an on-site control building with a 33kv/132kV substation.