Leading the way in all phases of renewable energy projects

Renewables

We are a leading consultancy in the field of survey and assessment of large scale renewable energy projects, in particular photo-voltaic (PV) arrays.  Our work has included baseline surveys of over 300 large scale solar projects.  We have been leading on research in this field working with academic institutions to develop best practice and ensure assessment and management of sites maximises the ecological opportunities associated with these schemes.  We currently carry out ecological monitoring on approximately 7% of the UK’s large scale PV arrays.

We have also provided guidance on a number of small wind-farm and turbine projects through the south west of England as well as working with EGS energy and the Eden Project in Cornwall on the UK’s first geothermal power station.

Solar-Renewable Energy-Grassland Management-Biodiversity

We are particularly proud of our work within the solar sector.  Since our first few project in 2011 in the South West we have gone on to provide advice on the survey, assessment, design, planning, construction, operation and monitoring phases of over 300 large scale PV arrays across the UK, Wales and Scotland.

The size of our business allows us to be reactive and be able to mobilise quickly, get out onto sites and collect the necesssary data to inform applications.  The size of our team ensures that we have strength in depth, necessary for many of the larger projects.  We are proud to be supporting several clients on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects in England and Developments of National Significance in Wales.

Or experience across a wide range of planning authorities and size and scale of applications allows us to bring the experience gained on one site, and in one region to the next project.

We have found our close involvement in developing and delivering long-term ecological monitoring strategies for large scale arrays has helped improve the quality of our advice.  We have the evidence to underpin our assessments.  We know what works and what doesn’t and we have the scientific evidence to back it up.  When it comes to presenting a strong application or developing an ecologically excellent scheme our evidence is invaluable.

Our ecological monitoring work takes us across the UK.   The standard methodologies that we have developed allow comparison of biodiversity performance of different arrays and is also beginning to build up a picture of the impacts that arrays are having on biodiversity across the country.  The portfolio of sites that we manage is representative of the distribution of arrays across the country.  We are working with a number of solar developers as well as Lancashire and York Universities on tools to continue to improve the biodiversity led management on solar arrays.

We publish an annual report on the findings of our biodiversity monitoring known as ‘Solarview’ which aggregates the data collected over the past 12 months of survey.  Follow the links to find the 2018 and 2019 Solarview reports.