RES took over the Bransford Bridge wind farm near Rugby in the English Midlands earlier this year. They have now also purchased Brown’s Holt wind farm near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire and Woolfox wind farm in Rutland.
The previous owners, SSE, had previously proposed to site 17 turbines at Brown’s Holt and up to 22 turbines at Woolfox, but RES said that its revised proposals would be “more modest” in scale. RES head of development in England David Cox said of the new acquisitions:
“Both projects have great potential, offering excellent wind speeds and access. We will be reviewing the existing data about each site in some detail and expect to begin the process of drawing up our own plans for wind farms at these locations in the next few months.”
The company said it expects to submit revised planning applications for the sites before the end of 2014.
RES is active in the wind (onshore and offshore wind), wave and tidal, biomass and solar energy sectors. It has been active in the wind energy industry for over 3 decades and has now expanded in on-site and building-integrated renewables as well as in building design and consultancy. Finally, RES is also an independent power producer, owning and operating a growing portfolio of wind farms around the world. If one wanted indications that wind energy is on the upsweep after a few years in the doldrums, here it is.
Renewable Energy Systems was started up in 1982 and built its first commercial wind farm at Carland Cross in Cornwall, South West England in 1992, using 15 Vestas turbines, each of 400 kW capacity (pictured below).
In December 1998, the first commercial 1MW wind turbine to be designed and built in the UK was installed by RES at Slievenahanaghan, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland.
In 2005, RES won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category and has offices across the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia. They can be visited (along with many other companies) at Renewable UK Annual Event 2013, which will be held at Birmingham NEC 5-7 November this year.
