Undertaking a site visit

Author: Craig Memery

Contributor: Alicia Webb

If your desktop study has highlighted potential sites for a wind farm, the next step is a site visit. This will add to the information you put together in the desktop study, and help you with the site ranking and selection process. It's a good idea to try and get landowner contact details if you don't already have them.

What you'll need

The information below will help you prepare and pack everything you'll need for a successful site visit.

Must-have

• a vehicle suited to the terrain. A 4WD is ideal as you may need to go off road
• marked up maps (refer to desktop study) and a pencil
• compass (for navigating, not drawing circles)
• binoculars
• GPS. A modern mobile phone GPS will probably do the job, but a quality GPS with regional maps of the subject site is better
• a copy of the desktop study for the site(s)
• camera
• notepad for recording all of your discoveries.

Nice to have

• Laptop, with any or all of the following

  • external GPS
  • mapping/navigation software
  • wireless broadband.

The site visit

The most important thing is to take lots of photos. And create a neat table where you can record: 

• the photograph number, recorded by your digital camera
• the compass direction in which your camera was pointing
• the GPS location where the photo was taken
• the time of day the photo was taken
• descriptive notes on why you took the photo and the information it gives.

The following sections highlight specific things to look out for.

1. Confirm the location and orientation of nearby residences

Many buildings identified during the desktop study will turn out not to be residences, and you may find new houses which do not appear on your map. For each house within 2km of the site:

• Confirm it's a residence, for noise and visual impact assessment purposes.
• Note any doors or windows facing the potential site.
• Note if the view of the subject site from in or around the house is screened by tree lines.
• Adjust noise setbacks accordingly.

2. Reassess potential site boundaries

• If some buildings aren't residences, or if new residences have been built, this may affect your noise setbacks and site boundary options.
• If required, amend your site boundary before any further assessments.

3. Assess visual impact

The visual impact of wind farms is subjective, and difficult to measure as it is dependent on a number of variables, including the level of acceptance of wind farms in the local community.

• Visual impact assessments can be complex, but at this stage try to get a sense of how many residences would have a direct view of the wind farm.
• It's worth noting these on your map so you can then accurately measure how far away they are from the wind farm.

4. Identify the location and voltage of the nearest grid connection

Many wind prospectors and developers have wasted precious time and money by forgetting to consider grid connection options early in the development process. A site visit should confirm exactly how far away the nearest electrical grid is, and what voltage it is.

Things to remember:

• Grid connections that require long dedicated connections or improvements to shared network infrastructure can be very expensive.
• Wind farms smaller than 10 MW can usually connect to the distribution network at 11-33kV (22kV in Victoria).
• The costs of connecting to sub-transmission voltages of 66kV and above for wind farms under about 10 MW usualy make the project financially unfeasible.
• The grid connection will rarely be in a straight line, due to properties and roads.
• The voltage alone gives no assurance of how much wind energy can be connected to any particular point on the network, or what the cost will be.

5. Vegetation and other obstacles

• A site visit is the only way to confirm the height of trees, bushes, sheds and other obstacles, on or near the potential site.
• If possible, record descriptive notes of tree type, height and setback from the site, and take plenty of photos.

6. Wind monitoring mast site

• The site visit is a great time to identify potential locations for a wind monitoring mast.

• Generally, it should be pretty central to the site and with plenty of clearance from any overhead electricity lines or fences.

• If you notice a good monitoring mast location, make a note of it by drawing it on the map or taking GPS coordinates.
• For more information on what makes a good location, see How to design and install a wind-monitoring mast.

Landowner engagement

At the pre-feasibility stage, you can assess many sites adequately from outside the property. However visiting the actual property will allow a more thorough and accurate assessment.

At this stage, landowner engagement is about establishing relationships and managing expectations. Discussions should be general, as you try to gauge the landowner's feelings about wind farms, and having one on his or her land. Here are some tips for good initial discussions:

• Never, ever, go onto a landowners property without their permission.
• Focus on their acceptance of renewables in general, and then, if they are receptive, probe a little more into how their neighbours might view it.
• Use open questions like 'How do you feel about renewable energy?' to help establish their opinions.
• The worst thing you can do is march up and declare "I'm building a wind farm — are you in or out?"
• Make conversation, and be prepared to talk about things that have nothing to do with your project.
• If you're not from the local area, make sure you have a basic knowledge of what crops are in, what livestock there is about, and how the season has been so far. Ask questions about the landowner's main crops, etc.
• Don't forget, the landowner may be your business partner for the next 25 years. Be courteous and respectful.
• Landowners and the broader community are your most valuable asset. They will form the 'soft' part of your business case — the part which has no financial value, but will be critical to your project's success.

Selecting sites for further investigation

Based on the information you've gathered, consider which sites merit further investigation and which are clearly unsuitable.

Checklist

• Put together the information and tools you need before the site visit.
• Check desktop study assumptions.
• Confirm the status of surrounding properties.
• Try to count the number of residences with a direct line of sight to the wind farm.
• Note how far away these residences are from the wind farm.
• Note obstacles near the site, including vegetation height.
• Note potential wind monitoring mast locations.
• Take lots of well notated photos.
• Determine which sites warrant further investigation.