Lanarkshire Wind Farm Begins Construction With Help Of SgurrEnergy

Online, May 8, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Bankend Rig wind farm commenced construction this month after reaching financial close, despite tight deadlines and planning constraints. The 14.3MW project, located on the border of South Lanarkshire and East Ayrshire, was supported by Glasgow-based SgurrEnergy, part of Wood Group, as technical advisor.

Expert engineers, analysts and environmental specialists from SgurrEnergy provided full engineer services to project owner, Wilson Renewables. The project, occupying forestry land near Drumclog that had been devastated by forest fires, was given technical support to reach planning consent, contractor selection and negotiation of project management to take it through to financial close.

The construction of the 11-turbine wind farm will take place over the coming months with energy generation expected to begin in late 2012.

SgurrEnergy provided wind regime and energy yield analysis, concept design evaluation, access evaluation, ground investigation and grid connection support and design on behalf of Wilson Renewables.

Financial model and power purchase agreement evaluation were also carried out in order to progress the project.

Engineering group manager at SgurrEnergy, Andrew Barker, said of the development: "Bankend Rig represents an exciting month for SgurrEnergy as we see one of our key projects achieve the major landmark of reaching financial close. We are proud to work with Wilson Renewables and as the fantastic progress on site continues, we're looking forward to seeing the first turbines turning, on schedule, at the end of the year."

Following the initial planning and design phase, SgurrEnergy carried out full tender process for balance of plant services, noise evaluation, monitoring and discharge of planning consents. They also completed wind turbine supply agreement negotiation, balance of plant contract negotiation and financial close support including lender's engineer liaison.

James Lowther of Wilson Renewables, the owners of the project, said, "Bankend Rig faced a number of challenges along the way, not least in dealing with a myriad of planning issues and tricky contract negotiations. We have been glad to have a company with SgurrEnergy's considerable experience by our side to ensure that we got to this point and look forward to continuing that relationship during the construction phase."

The project management and technical advice support will continue into the construction phase, with SgurrEnergy providing site presence, design review, contract and construction monitoring as well as site acceptance support. The 11-turbine scheme, on the border of East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, is due to begin energy generation later this year.