Source Renewable has secured a deal to be the prime installer of medium-scale wind turbines in the south west, in a move that could see a dramatic increase in the number of community-based wind turbines.

The award-winning renewable energy installer from South Molton, Devon, has secured the deal with national wind specialists ICE Renewables – which is the sole distributor of Vergnet medium-scale turbines in the UK. Source will work alongside ICE throughout the process of installing the community-scale wind turbines including site survey, design work, ground works, installing the system, project management and completing the grid connection.

South West wind installer “This is exciting news not only for us, but also for landowners and communities in the region,” said Laurie Eve, director of Source Renewable. “Until now there has only ever been the possibility for ICE to use national contractors, which can be costly. This deal means that landowners and communities will now be able to deal with us throughout the whole process, making it simpler, less expensive, and altogether a better experience for them.“

“Despite many communities being interested in wind power to provide them with free clean energy, there has previously been little in terms of available practical solutions for them, while many have felt that what is on offer is either too big or too small,“ added Laurie. “However, the Vergnet turbines that we’ll be installing will avoid this issue as they range from 32m to 55m tall. This means they are significantly lower in height than many larger solutions, but still provide enough electricity to power the equivalent of 150 houses.”

While there have been a number of large-scale wind farms built in the south west in recent years – including the 66 MW one at Fullabrook, Devon, and a 12 MW repower at Goonhilly in Cornwall – currently there are only a small number of turbines between 100 kW and 500 kW in the whole of the south west (source: Regen SW 2011 Annual Progress Report).

Laurence Duncan, commercial director of ICE Renewables, said: “We are looking forward to working closely with Source Renewable on what is a huge opportunity for landowners and communities in the South West. Despite having the best natural wind resource in the UK the Westcountry has so far failed to fully capitalise on it. I am confident that working alongside such a credible local company with an impeccable pedigree in renewable energy installation we can help more landowners realise the benefits.”

As well as providing free sustainable energy, the Vergnet turbines also qualify for generous Feed-in Tariff payments of 17.5 pence per kWh and can offer returns on investment of up to 25 per cent per annum for 20 years. In addition they are designed to withstand up to category 5 hurricane winds.

Thank you to Marion Casson, Director of the Yorkshire to Gambia project for organising this and thank you to all those who made it happen by contributed their time, their support and financially.

I hope this will be the first of many water pumps that we can donate to schools in Gambia.  As a successful business we wanted to give to communities who could benefit from our success and who needed extra support.  I am so grateful for having met Marion Casson and been able to link our donation to the wonderful work she does with the Yorkshire to Gambia Educational Trust.    I am also delighted that we are helping support these children whilst at school. Julian Martin CEO ICE Renewables

Since 2010 there has been a strong interested in the Vergnet turbines with eight now built, two in construction, fourteen sold and a pipe line of twenty installations on the immediate horizon.  ICE Renewables are on track to pass their target of seventy installations by 2014/15 worth £35 million.

The strong partnership with Vergnet SA has led to a product innovation in the new GEV MP R wind turbine launched last year which has been developed to provide flexibility and greater choice to the GB market.  It is on a 32m monopole tower, to allow choice for sites where there are height restrictions in planning.  Both turbines can now be down-rate to a 250kW or 200kW output allowing for two units to be installed which can benefit from the FiT bands or can fit with grid capacity limitations in certain parts of the country.

The strength and success of ICE Renwables offering is also reflected in their pioneering wrap round service to manage the feasibility, planning, construction, insurance, warranties and operations and maintenance for the life time of the Vergnet turbines.  This unique offering helps develop client trust as they know they are being looked after by experts who understand the life cycle of a turbine and will take responsibility for that cycle.

This innovative process and product has proved to be hugely popular and already made a significant impact on the medium wind sector putting ICE Renewables ahead of their competitors.

“We are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so the possibility of getting a large turbine was very small.  ICE were the only company supplying a medium sized wind turbine suitable for the power requirements for our business.” Simon Jones, Director, Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese owners of the first ever GEV MP R commissioned on November 2011.

The economic impact of this ICE Renewables success has resulted in it growing from a renewable consulting firm with a turnover of £150,000 to a fully fledge construction company with a turnover this year expected to be in the region of £10 million.  Green job creation has come with this success with the company going from employing five to eighteen staff in eighteen months including planners, BDMs, a Quantity Surveyor, project managers, accountants, construction managers as well as marketing and office admin roles.  Subcontractors have also felt this success in areas such as electrical design and commissioning, building foundations, operations and maintenance and pre planning environmental work.  Most importantly the reduced carbon and the extra incomes generated for ICE Renewables clients via the FiTs allowing businesses like Lincolnshire Poacher to expand and create new jobs in their business.

In the last two years ICE Renewables has taken full advantage of the rapidly growing medium wind sector.  It has done so by purely focusing on the medium wind, becoming medium wind experts in planning, construction and operation and maintenance.  A reliable Vergnet turbine, medium wind expertise and a pioneering wrap round service is proving a winning combination.

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As an industry expert in the small and medium wind sector, Julian Martin, ICE Renewables Chair and CEO, has been elected as the inaugural chair of RenewableUK’s Small and Medium Wind Group.  The group’s terms of reference are to set the standards and direction of the small and medium wind industry across the UK and advise the Government.

I am delighted to take on this role and work with my colleagues on the committee and at Renewable UK to ensure we continue to provide direction and support for the small and medium wind sector.  The growth of this sector is set to continue to rise and it is vital that it does so with workable standards to protect both the consumer and the reputation of the industry.

Leading thinkers in the wind power sector talk you through the lastest met mast technologies
Including ICE Renewables, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Met Office and Temporis Wind.

• Scotland (March)
• North Yorkshire (presentation only)
• Suffolk (May)
• Nottinghamshire (June)
• Berwick (May)
• Cornwall (June)
• Leicestershire (October)

Over 20 more turbine locations are coming on line over the next twelve months.

As exclusive distributors, ICE Renewables were given the first opportunity to sell and install Vergnet GEV MP (200kW – 275kW) wind turbine across Great Britian.  With over 530 installation over the world to date, the Vergnet GEV MP range of wind turbines have also proved to be hugely popular across the UK medium wind market.  The first wave of these turbines to hit our shores are now being installed across the UK.

The Open Days are a  fantastic opportunity for shrewd businesses with land, agri business, developers and landowners who want to generate clean, cheaper electricity and benefit from the Feed in Tariffs by installing medium sized wind turbines. Come and find out all about why the Vergnet GEV MP range is the talk of the medium wind sector and why you are in safe hands working with ICE Renewables, who are made up of industry experts and who are leading the way in the medium wind sector.

The Open Day will include

Numbers for each Open Day will be limited so register your interest and reserve your place to avoid disappointment.

Over 70 people took part in the latest Open Day in Lincolnshire in November

ICE Renewables offers three types of wind study

1. Modelled wind report based on Met Office data surrounding the site coupled with computational fluid dynamic report modelling turbulence across the turbine from relevant wind speeds and directions.    

2. Hub height metrological (met) mast on site for 6 months

3. Hub height met mast on site for 12 months

 All of these studies are compliment with ICE61400-1 2005

  The type of study chosen will be dependent on a range of factors;

• The surrounding topography of the site may be overly rough or be on a valley slope, or in close proximity to hills, trees or buildings in which case a minimum 6 month metrological (met) mast study may be required.
• The NOABL wind speed is excessive or insufficient.
• Preferred methodology of your financers

The wind report that we was prepared has allowed us to progress the project with more certainty over the financial return that will be available.  While the NOABL database is useful it only looks at an individual grid square whereas the virtual met mast and CFD report give a far greater level of accuracy.  Combined with the warranty that is reliant upon the wind study we are now even more confident in proceeding with the project.   James Fulton, Practitioner, Berry Brothers

Benefits of a Wind Study assessment

ICE Renewables wind monitoring packages have a range of benefits

• Wind speed assessment and turbulence assessment are often required to gain financial support for a project.
• An assessment ensures you have good wind speed
• Give potential site investors even more confidence in your project
• More informed turbine positioning leads to more profitable sites
• Wind turbine manufacturers including Vergnet require firm wind speed and turbulence data in order to supply the correct turbine for the site
• Vergnet offer 2, 5 and 7 year warranty options on the wind turbine which includes a warranted power curve. The warranted power curve has related liquated damage

In particular the VMM and CFD reporting provides even greater extra benefits.

• It can be done post consent
• It does not require planning permission
• It saves time
• It is the lowest cost option of the studies available.
• There is greater accuracy and confidence at an earlier stage in the project reducing future risk
• Problems can be identified early (e.g. high turbulence) and addressed accordingly
• The ability to assess sites with a high degree of confidence much more quickly.
• For land investment models, the VMM and CFD allows you to retain the high performance sites for your own portfolio.

What is a Virtual Met Mast

VMM is a site specific, hub height wind data tool specially designed by the Met Office for wind turbine developers and consultants.  It offers clear and reliable analyses to help you make informed decisions about your investment.

What is Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

CFD is used to calculate the flow field at the turbine site and this approach models the geography and topography of the site. The resolution of the computed data matches the resolution of the input data i.e. if geographic data is provided that is accurate to the nearest metre, flow quantities are available to the same resolution.  The CFD gives an accurate assessment of the yield of a wind turbine at a specific location on a given site over a set period of time. It also includes the turbulence level at the wind turbine location averaged over the time period.

Virtual Met Mast and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Report.

This scope of works includes:-

Met Office report assessing:-

• Monthly mean wind speed statistics
• Whole year and monthly wind roses
• Wind speed distributions and Weilbull statistics
• Wind speed exceedence statistics

 The results of this report are then utilised in a CFD software model assessing:

• Detailed turbulence across the whole turbine
• Revised wind speed taking into account detailed turbulence levels
• Wake effect where pertinent
• The opportunity for controlling the turbine at certain wind speeds and directions to allow installation in location where an infrequent site specific turbulent condition may otherwise constraint the site.
• Where a site visit has previously been undertaken by ICE Renewables a Site suitability Certificate signed off by Vergnet.
• A budget financial model based on the finalised wind speed.

These reports can be completed within 5 – 6 weeks and be undertaken post consent.

Met Mast

In more complex cases we will have to do a scope of for a met mast installation include the following:-

1. Planning application for met mast
2. Site assessment to consider location and required anchorage.
3. Delivery and installation of mast.
4. De-commissioning of mast
5. Hire of mast
6. Monitoring and reporting to include

Recommended options:- 6 months or 12 months.

On a 32m monopole tower with a 32m blade diameter, this turbine is the first of its class to get planning in an Area of Outstanding National Beauty because of careful consideration to its siting and the economic benefit to the business.

“It is amazing to be milking cows and making cheese using the power of the wind.   With the help of ICE Renewables and Vergnet we are able to use an abundant natural resource to generate our own electricity on the farm and that is hugely exciting.” Says Tim Jones, Director of F.W. Read and Sons

This is one of a growing number of medium scale off set distributed generation schemes, whereby  power is provided to homes, businesses or communities with excess power exported to the grid.  In this instance the power is being supplied to the buisness, the dairy and the house with the excess being exported back to the grid.

Celebrating the  opening ICE Renewables CEO Julian Martin says,

“ICE Renewabes are proud to have brought  the Vergnet turbine to the UK shores.  We have been in discussion with Vergnet for four years, formalised our relationship 18 months ago with a contract worth £35 million for an exclusive distrubutorship and now the Lincolnshire Poacher turbine marks the first of an increasing number of medium scale wind turbine projects to be realised across the UK  over the next few years. ICE Renewables and Vergnet mean serious business in the rapidly growing medium wind sector as the UK heads towards its 2020 renewable energy targets”.

Marc Vergnet, founder and CEO of Vergent SA agrees,

“Vergnet and ICE have a genuine desire and the dynamism to take wind energy to farmers.  It is with emotion and ambition that I participate in this MPR Christening day, the first step of a true partnership with men and women who share our ethic of distributed generation and real involvement of the farming world in the development of wind power. “

Tomorrow, Thursday 17^th of November, an Open Day will take place at F.W.Read and Sons with a morning and afternoon session to provide those interested parties an ideal opportunitiy to learn more about the turbine direct from the Manufactuer Vergent,  Suppliers, Installers and Operator ICE Renewables and from the turbine owners themselves F.W. Read and Sons.

The Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme means that farmers and landowners who invest in renewable energy technologies can claim attractive payments for the electricity they generate. The prospect of guaranteed long-term revenue streams, limited exposure to rising electricity prices and reduced carbon emissions has created huge interest amongst landowners from across the UK.

However, for those with busy work schedules, it can be very difficult to commit the necessary time to assess the opportunities, decide on the best technologies to utilise and identify the most suitable suppliers to work with.

The Renewable Energy Exchange helps resolve this issue by providing an independent brokerage service, facilitating meetings between those planning renewable projects and suppliers. Participants can then make informed and timely purchasing decisions to take full advantage of the current incentives from the FiT

FiT for FARMING networking events provide a time-efficient opportunity for landowners to have pre-arranged meetings with selected technology providers and services firms, in order to evaluate options and short-list prospective suppliers.

Click here to register