Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

Goonhilly Wind Farm

Value: £1.4 million

Customer: Cornwall Light & Power

Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering (BBRCE) completed a £1.4 million scheme, for Cornwall Light & Power at Goonhilly Wind Farm, to provide a 33kV power system and a new substation. BBRCE was responsible for replacing 14 existing turbines with six new high performance turbines which generate twice as much power and require only half the infrastructure.

The works included all permanent and temporary works in connection with the construction, erection and commissioning of the generators, including the construction of reinforced concrete bases, site tracks, a substation and all associated ancillary civil and electrical works. The scheme also included the dismantling and setting aside of the 14 existing wind turbine generators and associated reinstatement works.

During the tender stage of the contract BBRCE suggested structuring the project in such a way that not all the existing turbines would be decommissioned at once. At least four were left running - and generating a revenue stream from electricity sold to the National Grid - until towards the end of the project.

The new 2.0MW turbines save over 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum against the older turbines which only saved approximately 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

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