Weeks Fifteen to Twenty: Steel & Concrete.
Turbine steel foundations
The steel foundation baskets have been constructed. It took four days to build each foundation, with an expert team who are experienced at working on Enercon turbines. Here are some photos to show you the various stages:
And from the air:
And if you want to watch their amazingly fast work, here it is – the clouds are pretty cool as well:
Concrete pour
The concrete has been poured for Turbine 1. It was a full day’s work from 5am to 7pm (on the night of Wales vs Portugal in the European Championships)- so the team made sure they had enough time to get to a pub! Roughly 1,200 tonnes of concrete was squirted through what looked like a giant cake icing piping tube:
Enercon approved the foundations, and earthing rings were installed by PowerSystems. The area has now been backfilled, so that all you see is the central ring of bolts where the turbine tower pieces will be attached:
Substation
The substation building is almost complete. The internal work by WPD and PowerSystems will start mid-August.
Western Power Distribution have put the connection points onto the existing power lines. This is where our electricity will go into the grid.
Trial Run
We had a trial run with Plantspeed hauliers to check the route up from Swansea dock. A few pics of the exciting journey with an extendable lorry and police escorts!
Four Members’ Open Days
After the success of our first open evening, we decided to organise several further members’ events to invite Awel members and non-members the site. We’ve had a great response and been able to show people the various stages of construction. Our next one is 2pm, Thursday August 11th – please book asap.
Paul Thorburn – Wales’ ex-rugby captain – joined us at one of the open evenings and we asked him to kick a rugby ball over the foundations to commemorate his famous monster 62m conversion against Scotland.
More visitors to the site:
Assembly Members Jenny Rathbone and Jeremy Miles came to visit the site. They were pleased to see Awel’s commitment to contracting local firms in the construction of the site. Here they are with Dan (Awel) and Joe (Raymond Brown):
One of our longterm volunteers, Kani Hinshelwood, comes back to inspect construction.
Following the Welsh Government’s agreement to a £3.55 million loan to Awel, Lesley Griffiths, (Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs) came to visit the site last week:
Awel Members visit the site
And thanks especially to Tanya, Bethan and Jenny for all their work distributing posters and flyers about the Share Offer. We have now raised an incredible £1.213 million through co-op shares. The share offer document is on the website here if you would like to invest.
Fourth Progress meeting:
A very positive meeting, in fact construction is ahead of schedule. From left to right: Chris Usher (QuadConsult), Tom (Wind Prospect), Rory & Andreas (Enercon), Eirwyn (Power Systems), Jamie, Owen & Steve (Raymond Brown), Jamie (Wind Prospect), Charlotte (EST).
