Windform newsletter by Roadform

A look at ROADFORM LTD’s signature Wind Energy Project

Interconnector with France MNG release business case study

A Warm Welcome from Roadform Ltd

Firstly IÕd like to welcome you all to the Roadform Ltd sponsored IWEA connect event in Cork, IrelandÕs largest county for installed wind capacity at 283MW. It is a fantastic opportunity to sponsor a connect event. These successful networking events are one of IWEAÕs trademarks and have been extremely useful to members in the past few years. As a new member, we are hoping to spread our wings in the wind industry in Ireland. We believe that our experience as the main Civils Contractor for the construction of the ESB operated Fullabrook Wind Farm along with bases in Cork, Dublin and London have provided us with a unique platform to work upon.

We believe that with approximately 250 Ð300 MW to be built each year between now and 2020 that we can play a role in helping developers complete quality projects. I hope you enjoy the newsletter, put together with the IWEA connect location in mind. This Newsletter will also look closely at the award winning Fullabrook Wind Farm, our signature project. The 22 turbine, 66 megawatt wind farm was EnglandÕs largest onshore wind farm upon completion in 2011. I wish all in the industry the very best in the near future as we endeavour to meet our 2020 targets. Finally IÕd like to thank both Irene Canty and Michelle Blanchfield of the IWEA for their help in organising this unique event.

I hope a good night is had by all!

Martin Murphy

Managing Director, Roadform Ltd.

About Roadform Ltd

ÒAt Roadform Ltd our overriding mission is to establish lasting relationships with our customers, by exceeding their expectations and gaining their trust through exceptional performance.ÓÓ

Roadform Ltd is an international civil engineering company with offices in Cork, Dublin and London. We place a strong emphasis on performance, quality, safety, teamwork and a Òhands-onÓ management approach to ensure client satisfaction.

We have been involved in medium to large scale infrastructure developments since 1998 and have built a reputation for being a contractor of choice for pipeline construction, windfarm development, bulk excavations, road building, groundworks, utilities and reinforced concrete contracts. Our workforce and modern fleet of plant and equipment is readily mobilised allowing us to undertake projects on a nationwide basis.

Roadform Ltd recognise the importance of trust, certainty, conformance and value to our clients and can be relied upon to deliver projects safely, on time and on budget.

A company is only as good as its employees and we place great emphasis on employee development and training at all levels which creates a competent culture in our company. As part of our commitment to safety, health and environment all our operatives are CSCS / CPCS qualified and undergo regular training. Our management team have extensive experience in construction projects demonstrated by our companyÕs wide range of successfully completed contracts.

We are committed to high levels of quality, safety and environmental performance and pride ourselves on our standards and record. We have a zero accident record since the business began in 1998. We are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS18001 and to Achilles Building Confidence, CHAS and Constructionline. Our management team place great emphasis on communicating the companyÕs quality, environmental, safety and health standards to our workforce, and consulting them and others on continual improvement.

Wind Energy Regional View County Cork With the June IWEA connect event coming to Cork, as a Cork headquartered company Roadform Ltd decided to take a look at wind energy in its home county.

Cork has naturally been iden fied as one of the best located coun es in Ireland in terms of on-shore winds.

Wind turbines in county cork have supplied energy to homes since 1999 a er GaelForce Energy completed a 7 turbine project at Currabwee near Dunmanway in West Cork. The project was completed in November 1999 upon securing a AER III contract. Since then, Cork has grown to be the leading County in Ireland for producing wind energy with 283MW. (www.iwea.com)

Cork now produces 16% of Ireland’s wind energy.

Wind Energy Capacity by County (MW) 283

280

231 163

148

128

Enercon lead the way for wind technology in Cork with 34% of the market share

Fullabrook Wind Farm For each turbine founda on, approximately 410 cubic metres of concrete was required. Overall a

Roadform Ltd’s Signature Project England’s largest onshore Wind Farm

total of 9,000 cubic metres of concrete was need for all 22 turbine bases.

In 2009 ESBI a ained the Fullabrook Wind Farm development project from the sites original developers, Baker Group. The site contains 22 Turbines that can reach a capacity of 66mw. Following the comple on of this project, the award winning Fullabrook Wind farm was the largest onshore wind energy provider in England.

Roadform Ltd awarded Main Civils Contract Roadform Ltd were awarded the main Civils Contract for the construc on of the 22 turbine, 66 megawa wind farm, The contract included the upgrading of exis ng public roads and junc ons, site enabling works, construc on of 15km of access roads, base excava ons, cable duc ng, base and access road reinstatement.

93km of 33kV cable The output from the 66MW wind farm is exported from a new on-site substa on via an underground high voltage (132kV) cable to a nearby network substa on. In order to protect the world famous Devon Hedge Banks, some of which are over 800 years old, 93km of 33kV cable was installed in three circuits. This was ducted rather than directly buried to minimise the environmental impact.

The wind farm was constructed within 13 months using a mul -contract model used by ESB Interna onal.

The turbines provide sufficient electricity for nearly 30,000 domes!c consumers, or 30% of North Devon’s total energy consump!on

Safety Awards

Tom Murphy from Roadform Ltd. receives the April Safety Award for ÂŁ100 from Considerate Constructor Scheme Auditor Peter Kingdon.

Tom, represen ng the Roadform Ltd site team, had demonstrated a consistently high level of safe working and leadership throughout the project. Roadform Ltd director Mar n Murphy, Sisk H&S Advisor Andy Kaye & Site Manager John McGe!rick and Roadform Ltd staff also a!ended the presenta on.

Total Installed Capacity

66MW Output Oct 2012 - Dec 2012

43,982 MWh Reduc on of Carbon Dioxide per annum

75,000 TONNES Capacity Factor Oct 2012 - Dec 2012

31%

Gold Standard Considerate Constructors The results of this project will see an outstanding reduc on of up to 75,000 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide emissions each year. Upon comple on, the project was awarded the Gold Standard by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.

ndustry News

Slieve Rushen Wind Farm up for Sale

Northern Ireland’s largest wind farm at Slieve Rushen in County Fermanagh has been put up for sale by administrator, Grant Thornton. The 54MW wind farm previously owned by the Quinn group is sure to a ract interna!onal interest.

Ireland-France Interconnector being considered The two na!onal Transmission System Operators, EirGrid in Ireland and its French counterpart, RTE (Réseau de transport d’électricité), have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding to commission further preliminary studies on the feasibility of building a submarine electricity interconnector between Ireland and France.

EirGrid Chief Execu!ve Fintan Slye commented: “The project, if it proceeds, would be expected to be in place by 2025. The benefits of the Ireland-France interconnector could include increased security of supply, downward price pressure on electricity prices through compe!!on, and the poten!al to export renewable energy.

Study on Business Case for Small Wind Energy Launched Meitheal na Gaoithe has launched a new study en!tled Embedding Sustainability, Business Case for Small Wind Energy. The study which was launched to coincide with Global Wind Day 2013 sets out the business case for developing small-scale wind energy as part of an overall na!onal strategy to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy in the genera!on of electricity.

An Ireland-France interconnector would, if developed, run between the south coast of Ireland and the north west coast of France, and would comprise a cable length of approximately 600 kilometres. Over recent months, EirGrid and RTE have conducted studies which indicated that an interconnector between the two countries could be beneficial for electricity customers in Ireland and France.

By this agreement, the two Transmission System Operators will con!nue and deepen their coopera!on, and conduct further detailed feasibility studies. These studies will focus in 2013 on desktop analysis of the seabed to iden!fy poten!al route corridors.The capacity of the Ireland-France interconnector could be approximately 700 megawa s (MW), or the equivalent of the power demand of about 450,000 households. Last year EirGrid completed construc!on on the 500MW submarine East West Interconnector between Ireland and Wales.

One of the main talking points of the report is the finding that it can take up to twenty years for a project to move from incep!on to having firm access. The report is available to download from the Meitheal na Gaoithe website (www.mnag.ie).

IWEA Autumn Conference 2013 The IWEA Autumn Conference will take place on Thursday 3rd October 2013. The event will take place in the Galway Bay Hotel, The promenade, Salthill, Co Galway

Global Wind Day Global Wind Day 2013 took place on Saturday 15th June.

The interna onal annual day for discovering wind power has become a huge success since its inaugura on in 2007. More than 10 wind farms opened their gates in Ireland for school visits and walking tours. Part of this year’s theme called on the public to choose a G8 leader and send them a wakeup call. ‘Dirty fossil fuels get six mes more of your tax money than clean renewables’. Paul Whelan claimed first prize in the IWEA photo compe on run in conjunc on with Global Wind Day. Pauls picture of Tournafulla wind farm, Co.Limerick is published on the IWEA website.

Roadform Ltd Maintains Accredita on Roadform Ltd is pleased to announce that it has successfully been re-accredited to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001 interna onal standards for the second year in a row for their management systems.

The re-accredita on to ISO Interna onal Standards is a result of con nued commitment to and improvement of Quality, Environmental & Occupa onal Health and Safety Management Systems within the organisa on.

Wind turbine noise guide published The Ins tute of Acous cs (IOA) UK published its Good Prac ce Guide on wind turbine noise assessment on the 25th May.

Following an extensive consulta on exercise last year a!er the publica on of its dra! guide, the Ins tute's working party has completed the redra!ing of the document which will be officially launched on 21st May in Bristol at a one-day conference on wind turbine noise, the eighth in a series of IOA events on the subject.

The document provides significant support on technical issues to all users of the ETSU-R-97 method for ra ng and assessing wind turbine noise, and should be used by all IOA members and those undertaking assessments to ETSU-R-97.

IOA President Bridget Shield has wri#en to Government to confirm the guide as being current industry prac ce, and a response is expected shortly.

Work on the document began in 2011 following a request from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to take forward the recommenda on of the Government commissioned Hayes McKenzie report on Analysis of How Noise Impacts are considered in the Determina on of Wind Farm Planning Applica ons. (Ref HM: 2293/R1 dated 6 April 2011).

In announcing its publica on, Richard Perkins, working group chairman, said: “The working group wants to thank all those who responded to the consulta on exercise, and the peer reviewers, whose contribu on has been phenomenal. “We believe that the work has achieved the aim set out in the terms of reference agreed with DECC, which was to review the available evidence, and to produce good prac ce guidance on wind turbine noise assessment.

“The terms required us to look at the technical elements of the methodology, but did not allow us to consider the noise limits, which are a ma#er for Government, or to discuss the poten al health effects.”