SSE Telecoms delivered guaranteed microwave connectivity with 4Mb capacity and internet access to Mid Hill and Rothes II wind farms in the Scottish Highlands.
The company’s dedicated project management team overcame a number of challenges but managed to deliver the project two months ahead of schedule in October 2013. SSE Telecoms selected a dedicated project manager with specialist local knowledge in order to create a bespoke solution that would deliver connectivity to the two hard-to-access wind farms.
“Connectivity is crucial to any windfarm and this can be particularly challenging in remote locations” said Øyvind Lund, VP construction, Fred. Olsen Ltd. “We needed a provider that understood these challenges and could deliver a truly fail-safe solution to guarantee the day-to-day operation of our wind farms. We were also delighted to have the project completed two months ahead of schedule, particularly given some of the complex and unexpected issues that arose during the project’s lifecycle.”
The first major challenge centred on the location of the control room, which would connect Fred. Olsen’s two windfarms. The existing location was not suitable due to the ground conditions and needed to be moved by more than one hundred metres. This meant that the plan had to be altered and a second planning application submitted.
Both Mid Hill and Rothes II wind farms are surrounded by forest. SSE Telecoms had to conduct two line-of-sight tests before installing the radio link and this led the team to reconfigure the structure that would house the radio link. This in turn required a further ground survey to ensure it could support the newly designed tower and another planning application.
While these alterations and planning applications were in progress, SSE Telecoms also ensured that internet access for the site was pre-configured and tested well in advance of delivery. The telecom tower and radio link were built and installed simultaneously and this enabled the project to be completed ahead of schedule.
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