by Alan Quick

ON August 12, the final turbine components were delivered to RES’ Den Brook Wind Farm, in the Den Brook Valley between Spreyton, North Tawton and Bow, marking the end of the abnormal load deliveries to the site.

RES (Renewable Energy Systems Ltd) would like to thank residents and businesses for their co-operation throughout the delivery process.

Assembly of the turbines has now started with all turbines expected to be fully assembled by mid-September.

Following completion of the turbine installation, there will be a small number of traffic movements as cranes leave the site.

The company says that more information will be made available on the project website when possible.

Commenting on the successful delivery of the turbine components, Rob Kemeys, Project Manager for RES’ Den Brook Wind Farm, said: “We have made good progress at Den Brook, maintaining the schedule throughout including the turbine delivery programme which completed on August 12.

“Local residents and businesses who travel on the delivery route provided invaluable guidance on the best time of day for deliveries to take place and we have received positive feedback on how they have gone.  We would like to thank local residents and businesses for their patience during this period.”

The deliveries included 27 blades for the turbines and 27 base towers and nine nacelles which were delivered from July 19-22 and July 25-29. The mid and top sections of the turbines were delivered from August 1-5 and 8-11.

The turbines were transported in sections from Avonmouth port during the early hours of the day on each occasion.

For up-to-date information about what is happening at Den Brook Wind Farm, please visit the website: www.den-brook.co.uk .

The wind farm of nine 120 metre high (to the tip of the blade) turbines will have an installed capacity of 18 megawatts of renewable electricity.

RES says this is sufficient to meet the annual average needs of approximately 9,000 UK homes. It says the homes equivalent has been calculated by multiplying the wind farm’s predicted energy yield of 37.55GWh by the 2013 UK annual household energy consumption data published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (4128kWh).

RES says the turbines will be brought into operation in November.

A community benefit fund will begin operation when the wind farm is operational.

A Local Electricity Discount Scheme (LEDs) is available to residential, commercial and community properties within 2.3km of the turbines. This is an annual discount of £108, which is paid direct to their electricity supplier.

Local residents fear property prices may drop once the turbines are built and have expressed other concerns about noise and visual aspect.