RES has taken over operational responsibility and will provide asset management services at Bunnyconnellan, following the construction of the 12-turbine wind farm, located in County Mayo.

NTR’s 28MW Bunnyconnellan project becomes the second of the company’s wind farms to join the RES asset management portfolio, following 18 months of operations management at the 25MW Castlecraig Wind Farm in County Tyrone.

RES was also appointed by NTR to complete pre-take over inspections of the wind turbines, owing to RES’ expertise and experience of this turbine type. Take-over was achieved following live streaming of the turbine inspection works. Working together RES and NTR took the inventive decision to complete the inspections on the turbines by undertaking the ‘snagging’ remotely. This decision stemmed from the desire to limit the number of personnel travelling to site due to Covid-19.

All aspects of the turbines including the foundations, HV systems, towers, nacelles, and blades were inspected via a mobile phone app. In total more than 80 snags were successfully closed out during lockdown to allow the turbines to safely come online.

Darren Cook, RES’ Asset Management Director, said:
“At the moment we are all using video streaming to have business meetings – so why not take this approach out to sites to help us? We’re pleased that a bit of inventive thinking has helped achieve take-over and we’re delighted to be expanding our asset management portfolio with NTR at Bunnyconnellan.”

Kieran Tubridy, Senior Asset Manager from NTR plc, said:
“NTR are delighted that Bunnyconnellen has gone fully operational and it is the last of our NTR Wind 1 LP assets to do so. RES has stepped-up to help us achieve take-over at Bunnyconnellan and shown their resilience and adaptability during this difficult time.

“As we move into operations we know that RES’ experience and expertise will help to ensure that the project delivers industry best practice health and safety, commercial and technical performance.”

KeyFacts Energy: Renewable Energy news