Wind Direct case study

Clients ranging from chemical companies through to food and drink producers are working with UK wind specialist Wind Direct to lower energy bills and carbon emissions through on-site generation.

The employee-owned company is regarded as a leader in its field and is working with a growing number of high energy users including Mars Complementary Petcare, Noble Foods and Solutia Chemicals to develop over 100MW of generation from wind turbines.

Wind Direct has achieved combined energy savings for clients approaching £2m a year to date and is involved in 19 projects which are operational or have planning permission. More than 10 other sites are near planning or under assessment.

Among projects already generating is a 2MW turbine at Dewlay Cheesemakers in Lancashire. Dewlay is a speciality cheese producer in the north of England and uses traditional handcrafting techniques alongside modern technology. The company supplies into several of the major supermarkets.

The wind turbine project has enabled family-run Dewlay to cut energy costs and has the capacity to reduce carbon emissions by more than 2,900 tonnes a year.

The turbine was installed in September 2010 and as well as supplying electricity direct to Dewlay’s premises, any excess is exported. The site is one of a number of Wind Direct projects from which SmartestEnergy purchases power.

Frances Karki, Wind Direct’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “The diverse nature of our project portfolio means flexibility is a key requirement from a power purchaser and this is exactly what we get from SmartestEnergy. They understand our requirements and are adaptable to a variety of different scenarios.”

The Wind Direct portfolio continues to expand amid increasing interest in on-site generation. Recent projects to come on stream include a 1.5 MW turbine at FMC Technologies’ manufacturing facility in Dunfermline which could supply up to 40% of the site’s electricity needs.

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