F. Geology & Hydrology ( PDF | 31.0 MB ) - RWE.com

3.2 FIELD SURVEY RESULTS
3.2.1 Overview
As a result of the desk-based survey, it was concluded that those elements of
the proposed site layout (including turbines, hardstanding areas and access
tracks) located inside, or within 100m, of BGS mapped peat deposits should be
included in the field survey area. Elements of the site layout located within
the areas mapped by NSRI as Wilcocks 2 soil association were also included.
In addition, all accessible turbine locations were surveyed, regardless of
proximity to potential peat deposits or location within the Wilcocks 2 soil
association, in order to ‘ground truth’ the results of the desk based study to
the greatest extent possible.
Sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 provide the results of the peat survey for the proposed
turbine locations and access tracks respectively. Figures 3.4 and 3.5 can be
referred to for an overview of the field survey results across the development
area as a whole.
3.2.2 Turbine Locations
Table 3.2 details the results of the peat depth survey for each turbine location.
A total of 14 turbines, out of the proposed 32, were included in the field
survey. The remaining 18 turbines were inaccessible due to the presence of
dense forestry. In the absence of field survey data at these locations, results of
the desk-based survey have been utilised to provide a description of the likely
ground conditions at the site. A photolog of turbine locations is provided in
Appendix 2. Detailed peat depth maps for each surveyed turbine location are
provided in Appendix 3.
The survey results have identified that two turbine locations (Turbines 11 and
19) are located within peat deposits. An additional two turbine locations
(Turbines 2 and 4) are located in close proximity to peat deposits. All four
turbines are all located in areas which are currently planted with commercial
forestry and are planned to remain afforested as part of the ongoing Forestry
Design Plans. Impacts should therefore be considered in terms of loss of
carbon stores rather than loss of mire habitat
Calculations of the total area of peat that will be lost directly, and indirectly, as
a result of construction of these turbines and associated crane hardstanding
areas are presented in Section 3.2.4.
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