Strath Caulaidh - Informed Ecological Decisions :: Case Study 4

Case Study 4 - Ecological Data Online

THE CLIENT:

Scottish Power is the largest developer of renewable energy installations in the UK.

All developments to date, the majority of which are on-shore windfarms, have required an Environmental Impact Assessment to be undertaken before local authority planning consent can be granted.

Part of the planning consent for major projects often involves undertaking a range of conservation work to mitigate against the perceived adverse impacts that such developments may have. A group of experts from organisations such as RSPB and SNH are normally tasked with ensuring that such works are undertaken successfully. Such groups are often called Habitat Management Groups (HMG).

THE CHALLENGE:

Most such developments require a considerable number of ecological surveys to be undertaken and monitoring schemes set up, in order to demonstrate that mitigation measures have been successfully undertaken. Most developments therefore generate a large amount of technical information which HMG members need to access and understand.
However, SP have been finding it more difficult to manage this process and deliver the information in a timely and effective manner, now that a large number of their development sites are active.

THE SOLUTION:

SPR asked SCL to consider ways of managing this information. SCL designed and built an ‘extranet’ site for members of the Black Law Windfarm HMG.

Registered users access the site by a username and password which then gives them the opportunity to read all the current news about the project and download documents such as reports, agendas and minutes of meetings held. SCL manages the site, including uploading documents to it and adding new pages as new developments occur.

THE FOLLOW-UP:

The Black Law site won the ‘Best Environmental Iniative’ at the Green Energy Awards held in Edinburgh in December 2007.

The clear success of the Black Law project has led to SCL being commissioned to rollout the approach to a considerable number of other windfarm sites owned by SP. The information on each windfarm will all be held in one central 'Hub' site that users can access.



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