sustainability > Environment > Impact Assessment > Minimising the environmental impact of EDP wind power projects

Minimising the environmental impact of EDP wind power projects

EDP has established a set of guidelines to minimise environmental impact during the different development stages in the construction of new wind farms, with the most significant being:

design phase, construction phase, operating phase, project decommissioning phase 

 

> Performing an archaeological study and creating protection areas for any heritage elements discovered; Identifying the ecosystems existing at the site and the surrounding areas and establishment of respective protection areas;

> Adjusting the siting of the various infrastructures in order to avoid steeply sloped terrain, headwaters of watercourses and rock outcrops, as well as minimise morphological alterations, so as to reduce the risk of erosion;

> Using an underground electricity network at the site and using access roads to lay cable ditches, thus minimising the impact on birdlife and the natural terrain.

> Clearly marking out the intervention area in order to minimise the impact on natural vegetation and ecosystems in general;

> Ensure the work is supervised by a professional attached to the management team possessing environmental training;

> The work is accompanied by an archaeology team;

> The construction site and support facilities are set up with earth movement kept to a minimum;

> The excavation of any zone in the farm area to use the resulting materials in the construction is forbidden;

> Performing the maintenance of equipment and vehicles onsite is forbidden, thus reducing the risk of soil contamination by oil and related products;

> Bare earth to be reused in the landscape recovery is stored separately;

> A system for storing waste prior to its transport to the authorised disposal site is created;

> A daytime working timetable is established, especially in relation to construction work using noisy machinery;

> Tubular towers, of light, non-shiny colours are used, as these are more aesthetically pleasing;

> Minimising birdlife collisions through the use of tubular towers, without stay wires on the permanent weather tower(s);

> Minimising bird electrocution problems by burying conductors within the boundaries of the wind farms;

> Landscape recovery through the final shaping of slopes, soil decompaction in construction areas, including the construction support facilities, and covering with top soil and autochthonous hydroseeding;

> Preserving any archaeological remains that are discovered during excavations.

> The manufacturer of the wind turbines is required to provide a trustworthy noise emission certificate for the model in question;

> The waste resulting from the operation of the wind farm is collected by an entity licensed for that purpose.

> All elements that may pose a risk to the environment or to the local population are removed;
 
> Disassembly and the maximum possible recovery and recycling of the waste generated (such as metal waste and used oil), carried out by companies licensed to perform such activities;

> The foundations are filled in with bare earth and biologically stabilised through hydroseeding; any routes that exclusively provided access to the wind turbines are made unusable and biologically stabilised through hydroseeding.