FEATURE SPONSOR
ECOLOGY: PEAT LANDSCAPES SEMINAR DETAIL
The seminar opened with a summary of the character, condition and distribution of blanket mires in Wales from Peter Jones from Natural Resources Wales. This was followed by a presentation by Andy Mills of engineering consultants CH2M Hill, who examined the methods of assessing peat and the modelling techniques available to extrapolate point measurements into peat depth contour maps.
EXPERTS GATHER TO REVIEW PEAT HABITAT
The afternoon session was led by Dali Nayak from the University of Aberdeen, who was a key player in designing the carbon calculator, now widely adopted method used to assess the net life cycle savings in carbon associated with wind farms.
MANAGEMENT
WIND FARM DEVELOPMENT ENABLING COMPILATION OF INVALUABLE DATA With peat holding 50% of the UK’s carbon stock, the importance of its management is increasingly recognised. So the Welsh Peatlands Seminar held at Bangor University in September, organised and hosted by Atmos Consulting, provided an excellent opportunity for researchers, consultants and restoration practitioners to consider the important issues and latest thinking about peat management and restoration.
While it was noted that the biggest threat to peat uplands actually comes from air pollution and longer-term climate change, renewable energy developments, and wind turbines in particular, are widely perceived by the layman to have potential impacts. In fact, these developments have led to a significant volume of high quality peat depth data being compiled in support of applications (data covering several hundred to several thousand hectares in extent now exists but is not all in the public domain).
When prepared by specialist environmental consultancies this data can be based on sophisticated GIS and geospatial tools in order to manage physical risk and meet the requirements of statutory agencies. In addition, the habitat management plans submitted with wind farm applications are often used to propose restoration of damaged peatlands.
PRESENTATION BY DR GEETA PURI Since its publication in 2008, the carbon calculator has gone through a number of refinements as a consequence of further research, and is becoming a more effective assessment tool. Atmos Consulting’s Principal Consultant, Dr Geeta Puri, has had significant experience providing advice for developments on Scottish peatlands for the Scottish Government, and was responsible for commissioning and managing the Carbon Calculator.
In her presentation she stressed that carbon calculation scenarios can present very different outcomes depending on the assumptions made, for example the extent to which drainage can affect peat can vary significantly based on different scenarios.
However, the calculator remains a key tool in demonstrating the contribution of the wind industry to carbon reduction targets. Dr Puri, who works closely with Aberdeen University’s Dali Nayak announced plans for further analysis on Scottish data, the results of which will be made publically available.
PEAT RESTORATION – A CONUNDRUM FOR ONSHORE WIND OPERATORS with the first generation of wind farms coming to the end of their operational life, the industry is entering new territory when it comes to planning for the re-use of these sites.
Earlier thinking assumed that a site would be restored after the 25 year lifespan, and at that time we were unaware of the increasing evidence that suggests that peat landscapes are probably better left undisturbed by attempts to remove concrete turbine bases.
Dr Geeta Puri
PRIMARY CONSIDERATION As a wind farm or individual turbines reach the end of their planned operational life, the primary consideration is, of course, whether to re-power and, if so, whether infrastructure such as access tracks and turbine bases can be re-used, minimising the need to disrupt intact peat as a location hosts second stage turbines. The outcomes of this increasingly hot debate will inform future thinking and decision-making on the development of wind farms on peatlands.
The technical aspects of the topic were explored earlier this year at a seminar hosted in North Wales by environmental consultancy Atmos Consulting, led by Managing Director Stewart Lowther, a respected expert on peat restoration, whose work includes advising on RWE npower’s Carnedd Wen wind farm and habitat restoration project in Powys. The technical seminar looked at restoration modelling and carbon dynamics with academics, developers and regulators.
DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGIES
Peat expert Dr Geeta Puri, Principal Consultant at Atmos Consulting, said “It is important that planning authorities and regulators are fully-informed so they can decide whether to consent the repowering of existing sites. The challenge for those advising the owners of fully decommissioned sites is to develop innovative methodologies for returning the ‘borrowed’ habitats in ways that maximise benefits to biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and this is an area in which Atmos is rapidly developing its expertise.”
Atmos Consulting Click to view more info
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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