The client
ABEI Energy is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) with over 20 years of experience operating throughout Europe and the Americas. Their focus is the generation of clean energy from renewable sources, managing every step of the project lifecycle from inception through to operation. They have developed over two gigawatts of renewable energy installed capacity from wind, solar, hydroelectric, and tidal projects. Their ambition is to grow their portfolio further, through new site development, and in turn make an important contribution towards national and international net zero goals.
Overview
We are providing multi-disciplinary environmental assessment services for five sites for ABEI Energy across the UK:
- 37MW Solar Farm and BESS scheme in Cumbria;
- 100MW BESS scheme in East Lothian;
- 46MW Solar Farm in Derbyshire;
- 14MW Solar Farm in Lancashire; and
- 32MW Solar Farm and 10MW BESS scheme in North Yorkshire.
Services provided by Ecus include landscape and visual assessment, design mitigation recommendations, geophysical surveys and archaeological assessment, ecology surveys and biodiversity net gain assessment, and arboriculture. We are also undertaking EIA screening and providing the environmental coordination of these and other services including noise, flood risk, drainage, traffic, and transport.
Ecus’ Head of Environmental Assessment and Consenting, Steve McQuade, said,
We are really pleased to be contributing to the provision of clean, affordable and secure energy for the UK by working with ABEI to deliver these renewable energy projects. Our expertise, geographic range and proactive engagement with ABEI mean we have already been able to efficiently drive project progress by rapidly undertaking wintering and breeding bird surveys and geophysical surveys to inform the design development ahead of public consultation. We will continue to work collaboratively with ABEI as together we take these projects through the consenting process.
Steve McQuade Head of Environmental Assessment and Consenting
The challenge
ABEI are developing multiple sites across the UK and need reliable, proactive support to deliver a full range of multi-disciplinary environmental assessment services concurrently at a range of geographic locations.
The solution
Teams from across our eight offices mobilised rapidly to undertake wintering and breeding bird surveys, winter viewpoint surveys and geophysical surveys to inform design development ahead of public consultation. This agility and responsiveness of our teams has continued throughout the assessment works, helping to drive the project delivery programme.
Client benefits
Using a dedicated team to manage the whole programme of works enables us to ensure consistent, focused delivery for ABEI. Sharing lessons learned across the projects and collaborating closely with ABEI means that they receive efficient and cost-effective support from a team that understands their needs and the specific issues of importance for landowners and stakeholders associated with solar and BESS development.
Client testimonial
The focus of ABEI’s highly experienced UK team is the generation of clean energy from renewable sources, managing every step of the project lifecycle from inception through to operation. Working with a dynamic, progressive and agile multi-disciplinary company like Ecus is helping us to efficiently achieve the development of these new sites, and in turn make an important contribution towards the UK’s net zero goals.
Stewart Lovesey UK Permitting Project Manager
