Chester University student completes 5 week placement at CWL

"Having spent 5 weeks working with Community Windpower, I have gained valuable insight and experience within the expanding industry of renewable energy, which has enhanced my understanding of the opportunities available to me after completing my degree. During my time here at Community Windpower I have been working with the Projects Team, who are responsible for the scoping, planning and development of wind farms, as well as expanding the company into battery sites, solar farms and green hydrogen production.

My primary task during my time here on placement was to identify and develop a proposal for a new onshore wind farm site, which quickly taught me the challenges and difficulties involved in getting these sites consented, constructed and operational. This project began by familiarising myself with all of the policies in place regarding planning and development from local councils, as well as physical constraints which needed to be considered such as wind speeds, slope, environmental designations and peat presence. Once I had found a site, with some guidance I used GIS to make industry standard maps and drawings, illustrating how these constraints related to the site I had chosen and any potential feasibility. I have enjoyed having my own project to work on and I like knowing that it will continue to be developed after my time here.

During my time on placement, I was also given the opportunity to work in new project areas the team has been working on, such as the development of battery sites. This has allowed me to gain knowledge in the planning process of multiple types of developments, as well as to practice lots of the same GIS skills used in developing a wind farm site and also get my first introduction to CAD, making site layouts and corresponding with land owners. These are tasks I hadn’t had the chance to do before. Working on the battery sites has allowed me to contribute to the work being done and helped me feel like part of the team, which the whole Projects Team has done very well.

I have also enjoyed learning about the efforts made by Community Windpower to the host communities of their operational sites. I was given the chance to write a community news story about a donation made to a small, rural church for the fitting of new LED lights. Community Windpower distributes their aid to the host communities through their BeGreen centres open in Dunbar and Dalry, which offer free advice on energy bills and savings, emergency funding to those in need and home installation of insulation, heat pumps and solar technology. This method of distributing help to the communities is unique to Community Windpower, and writing the community news story allowed me a detailed view of just one example of the good they do.

During my 5-week placement here at Community Windpower, I have been given a perspective on the scale of these projects with the work that goes into getting them going, and I am happy to have been a part of that. As well as developing a large variety of new skills in GIS and CAD, the work I have completed here has developed existing skills which will help me going into my next year of university, with my dissertation and beyond. The experience of working in a professional office environment and within a team will help me with the decisions I make next and has given me unique skills I would not have had the chance to gain otherwise. It has been a fulfilling experience and one which I feel lucky to have had the chance to complete. I would like to thank the whole Projects Team and Project Assistant Ben King in particular for their support and friendship during my entire time here at Community Windpower."

Back to News