Wind News

Monday 22 February 2010

Scout Moor wind farm is built in an upland blanket peat area

Building wind farms on peat lands could degrade their unique environments, a study has found.

A report commissioned by independent environmental body Natural England and entitled "Investigating the impacts of windfarm development on peatlands in England", has described how the construction, operation and decommissioning of a wind farm can erode peat, emitting the carbon dioxide stored within it or leading to "complete peat loss" in some areas.

Peat is an important area for biodiversity as well as a store of carbon that might otherwise be released as greenhouse gases. Natural England said that peatlands needed to be kept wet, avoid changes in nutrients or water chemistry, and avoid disturbance or damage to their surface to protect the wildlife and the carbon.

Over time, natural and human-induced changes have meant that much of the UK's blanket peat is no longer forming more peat, and is described as degraded. The UK's Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) has a target to restore 70% of this degraded peat to active bog, which could conflict with wind developers.

In Scotland and Wales many upland peat lands, often found in windy areas, have already been developed for wind energy, according to Natural England, but currently there are only two English wind farms in upland blanket peat areas - Scout Moor, a 26-turbine development near the village of Edenfield, Lancashire and Ovenden Moor, a 23-turbine project near Halifax, Yorkshire.

The report concluded that how a wind farms is designed, constructed and operated makes a significant difference to how much the blanket bog is affected.

A Natural England spokesman told NewEnergyFocus.com that wind farms may damage peat through disturbance in the construction, operation and decommissioning of wind farms, or by ongoing drainage impacts or other effects of construction features, such as tracks.

He said that a poor understanding of the nature and behaviour of peatlands can even lead to peatslides, where huge volumes of peat slip down the hill and are washed away.

Consequently, the body recommended that if possible, wind farms should locate on suitable non-blanket bog sites or, at a minimum, seek to improve the surrounding environment.

"Natural England supports appropriate developments for sustainable energy to avoid release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels," he said.

"However, the siting of these developments should avoid damage to sensitive environments."

Benefits

But he acknowledged that wind farms could ameliorate the risk of climate change, which poses a great threat to the delicate environments, and could have a role in improving the state of the peat.

"The development of wind energy is one of the tools in our armoury to combat climate change. Wind farms should help limit the severity of the future climate our peatlands will face. Climate change threatens peatlands by promising longer drier summers, which may dry out the peat encouraging decomposition of the stored carbon, and emitting even more greenhouse CO2.

"Wind energy developers which seek to combine the construction of a wind farm with restoration of already damaged peatlands will have a stronger case."

Even so, he stated that ideally, wind farms would be sited away from fragile environments such as peat.

"Wind energy developments deliver the highest benefits where they do not harm existing wildlife or release more greenhouse gases than is necessary," he said.

"The best option for peatlands would be for the wind farm to be developed on more robust mineral-based soils, while continuing to add value by restoring nearby damaged peatland areas."