Author: Petra Stock
Some aspects of wind farm development are pretty technical, and you'll somewhere along the line you'll need to hire experts to write reports or give advice. Often, a requirement of the planning application is that you have an expert to 'sign-off' certain parts of your design.
You should hire and work with external consultants to get the expert advice you need during the planning process. But it's worth noting that the quality of work can vary, as can the price you pay for it. This article looks at ways to effectively engage consultants, and the kinds of jobs they might do.
Employing consultants
One way to get the best out of consultants is to provide a detailed scope, clearly outlining your expectations. Your scope should include:
- specific requirements regarding quality of reporting (so you can expect them to redraft work that's not acceptable)
- the number of site visits or meetings you expect them to attend
- any guidelines you expect them to address in their work.
The more detail you include in your scope, the better.
It's also a good idea to get at least three quotes for each study, unless you have an existing relationship with a consultant whose work you were particularly happy with.
Ensuring quality work
There are several strategies for getting the best possible standard of work from consultants. These include:
- Make sure the project team described in the consultant's proposal is the team who actually work on your wind farm project.
- Where possible agree a lump sum or upper limit on fees for each study.
- Link payments to clear results. For example, 75% paid on receipt of a draft report, 25% paid on receipt of the final report with all comments addressed.
- Look for experience on similar projects. And check the consultant team being put forward have worked on similar projects.
- Ask consultants for references, or people you can contact to discuss the consultants' previous work before you engage them
- Try to meet with all potential consultants before you make your final selection.
A detailed consultant selection process involves a significant amount of work. However, finding good consultants to work to a detailed scope with clear expectations, and a limit on fees, will save you considerable time and effort in the long run.
Common pitfalls when working with external consultants include:
- poorly written and formatted reports
- inconsistencies throughout reports
- incorrect project details (for example, number of turbines, distance to nearby towns, height and type of turbines)
- the project leader and team actually working on the project are different from that detailed in the proposal
- incorrect calculations (even simple ones).
Typical tasks requiring consultants
It's important to keep in mind why you're having a study written and who will be reading it. Make sure your consultant is aware of the planning guidelines of the relevant planning authority, so the report can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of your planning application.