Fairburn Windfarm
Attribution: unknown or not recorded
FAIRBURN WINDFARM
Location: Fairburn Estate, Strathconon, 5 miles south of Marybank.
Capacity: 40mw (2 turbines at 2mw each)
The turbines generate power at 690 volts AC at the generator. This power is transformed to DC at the top of the tower and then reverts to AC (50 cycles) at the tower base for transmission to the switch room and then to the national grid sub-station at Orrin Dam.
Construction commenced in February 2009 and commissioning was completed in January 2010.
The contractors appointed for the work:
R J Macleod (Civil), Dingwall
RE Power (Control Systems)
Scottish Hydro Contracting (Electrical), Evanton
McNally’s Heavy Lifting
The construction of the Fairburn Windfarm Project is illustrated in the following photographs.
Text: Angus Christie
Photographs: John Finlayson
Roads
Approximately 5 miles of access and “distributor” roads had to be constructed, all to a high specification, to accommodate:
1. heavy lift cranes;
2. transport of tower components
3. transport of turbine components.
The roads were constructed from materials which were all quarried on site from two borrow pits.
Borrow Pit
In addition to the materials required for road construction, the borrow pits were established complete with stone crushing plant to produce the aggregates required in the massive quantities of concrete in the foundations of each of the twenty towers. The concrete was mixed in a batching plant also established on site.
Batching Plant
The only material for concrete production imported to site was cement. The batching plant incorporated all weighing and mixing equipment to ensure that all batches were in accordance with an exacting specification.
Sub-Station
The power generated at each turbine is fed to a sub-station located on site before being fed to the switch yard at the Orrin Power Station and to the National Grid.
Switch Room
Tower Civil Works
The civil works incorporated:
1. Sub-base
2. Steel reinforcing
3. Mass concrete
4. Anchor ring
Note: The Civil Works (roads, foundations and buildings) accounted for £10m out of a total project cost of £50m.
Transport
All major large components (generators, hubs, blades, towers) were shipped to the Service Base at Invergordon and transported to site by special heavy goods vehicles requiring police escort. Vehicles travelled in convoys of three; a total number of deliveries was 140.
Turbine Assembly
After the completion of the tower, the generator unit was lifted onto the top of the tower. The hub and three blades were assembled at ground level and lifted to be assembled with the generator.
Turbine Lift
The lifting of the turbine assembly is a complex and specialist activity using equipment and procedures which have been prepared and developed well in advance of lifting.
Note: Given favourable weather conditions and a travel schedule approved by the Police, one complete tower and turbine can be erected in a 24 hour period.
assemble to generator
Complete!
View more photographs of the complete process
We have a considerable about of photographs of the whole process. These are well worth viewing to get a real appreciation of the complexity of the process.
