Abstract

Developing Environmentally Acceptable Wind Farms in the UK
Track: Electric Utilities
Authors: Nathan Caley, Lucy Arnold, Andrew Corcoran

Renewable energy will play a major role in meeting UK targets for reducing emissions. West Coast Group of companies operates within the renewable sector, with West Coast Energy involved in the identification and planning of wind energy developments and Atmos Consulting providing technical and environmental support. Requirements of the GIS solution were to migrate the data across to ESRI format; create a central database with easy access for a variety of staff; sharing data across companies, while maintaining security; models for site search, habitat loss and bird collision risk. The solution was two-part with a desktop extension (ArcObjects) to facilitate the work of expert users involved in Environmental Impact Assessment creation and geospatial analysis (Model Builder), and a web solution (ArcGIS Server) to provide GIS to a wider audience. GIS has allowed us to increase production as data is now easily accessible with repeatable models providing answers throughout the process.