Welcome to our monthly project updates. On this blog, you’ll find all Derril Water Shared Solar Park news.
August
Over the past month, the Derril Water team have been busy behind the scenes progressing the pre-construction works.
Neo Environmental have been working on the Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) with the County Archaeologist. This confirms what archaeological works will need to be carried out prior to and during construction to meet the planning conditions.
Southwest Geotechnical (SWG) are doing ground investigation works by the public road where passing places will be constructed. After this, RES will design those passing places for approval by the roads authority.
We are now in the latter stages of negotiating prices with candidate Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors. Once we have selected the contractor we’ll be working with we’ll be able to give more detail on final designs and components as the project moves into its next phase.
June and July
There was plenty going on behind the scenes to get Derril Water ready in June and July. Neo Environmental via RES were providing some technical support to enable discharge of planning conditions, including:
- determining the methodology and excavation requirements for the archaeological Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI); and
- developing a surface water management scheme that will be put into effect by the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor to mitigate surface water risks.
A highway survey between the site and Thorndorn Cross will be done in October, closer to the time of construction, to determine the condition of the road to inform what repairs may be required.
Geotechnical investigation will be done at each of the seven passing places on the public road in the coming weeks to determine the ground conditions and assist with pavement design.
May
As our latest Ripple project, we were excited to get the wheels turning in the development of Derril Water Shared Solar Park.
After closing the public share offer on the 22nd May, we welcomed over 8,700 members including over 7,000 brand new members into our third project, our first solar park. They now own not only our biggest project to date, but also the largest single raise in British co-operative history!
Whilst the actual development of the project will not commence until after discharge of planning conditions, site investigation works have begun at Derril Water Shared Solar Park. These form part of the geotechnical investigation which is crucial in helping potential EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors who will build the project determine the design and construction. We’re pleased to share a photo of the recent works on site.
This picture shows a set up with two rigs for penetration tests, boreholes and pile pull-out tests. Rigs are used to drill holes in the ground to gather soil samples and rock cores for testing.
Also in May, we visited our youngest Derril Water Shared Solar Park members at Bridgerule CoE Primary School, who are proud owners of a small part of the solar park, only 2 miles away, to help power their school. The students were so excited to share with us their ‘green hopes for the future’, and were amazed to hear that the solar park will be generating electricity until they’re 50 years old!
