Appendix 9.1 Peat Slide Risk Assessment SANDY KNOWE WIND FARM i Appendix 9.1 This page is intentionally blank. SANDY KNOWE WIND FARM ii Appendix 9.1 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD SANDY KNOWE WIND FARM PEAT SLIDE RISK ASSESSMENT November 2013 Wardell Armstrong International Sir Henry Doulton House, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5BD, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)845 111 7777 Facsimile: +44 (0)845 111 8888 www.wardell-armstrong.com DATE ISSUED: 12th November 2013 JOB NUMBER: ED11121 ELECTRONIC REFERENCE: ED11121-00115 REPORT NUMBER: 002 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD SANDY KNOWE WIND FARM PEAT SLIDE RISK ASSESSMENT October 2013 PREPARED BY: Stephanie Higgs Senior Geologist Carl Hamer Associate Director APPROVED BY: Bob Seedhouse Technical Director This report has been prepared by Wardell Armstrong LLP with all reasonable skill, care and diligence, within the terms of the Contract with the Client. The report is confidential to the Client and Wardell Armstrong LLP accepts no responsibility of whatever nature to third parties to whom this report may be made known. No part of this document may be reproduced without the prior written approval of Wardell Armstrong LLP. ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND UTILITIES Wardell Armstrong International is the trading name of Wardell Armstrong International Limited, Registered in England No. 3813172 LAND AND PROPERTY MINING AND MINERAL PROCESSING Registered office: Sir Henry Doulton House, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5BD, United Kingdom MINERAL ESTATES AND QUARRYING UK Offices: Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Cardiff, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Greater Manchester, London, Newcastle upon Tyne, Penryn, Sheffield, Truro, West Bromwich. International Offices: Almaty, Moscow WASTE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 2 SOURCES OF INFORMATION .............................................................................................. 2 3 SITE INFORMATION ............................................................................................................ 4 4 LAND USE AND GEOMORPHOLOGY ................................................................................. 11 5 PEAT SLIDE RISKS .............................................................................................................. 14 6 SITE INVESTIGATION ........................................................................................................ 17 7 HAZARD ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................... 24 8 RISK REGISTER AND MITIGATION .................................................................................... 29 9 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................. 36 TABLES Table 1: Sources of Information ................................................................................................ 2 Table 2: Slope Gradients .......................................................................................................... 45 Table 3: Infrastructure Receptors .............................................................................................. 8 Table 4: Geomorphological Zones ........................................................................................... 13 Table 5: Peat Depth Summary ................................................................................................. 21 Table 6: Peat Depth Expected at each turbine location .......................................................... 22 Table 7: Ground Investigation Results ..................................................................................... 22 Table 8: Hazard Scale (Peat Depth) .......................................................................................... 25 Table 9: Hazard Scale (Slope Gradient) .................................................................................... 25 Table 10: Exposure Scale.......................................................................................................... 26 Table 11: Hazard Ranking ........................................................................................................ 27 Table 12: Hazard Matrix ........................................................................................................... 27 Table 13: Hazard Zones ............................................................................................................ 28 Table 14: Risk Register ............................................................................................................. 30 APPENDICES Appendix A Peat Probe Details Appendix B Hazard Ranking Assessment ED11121/002 November 2013 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment DRAWINGS Drawing No. Title Scale ED11121-005 Peat Probe Survey 1:10,000 ED11121-006 Peat Depths 1:5,000 ED11121-007 Site Gradients 1:10,000 ED11121-009 Geomorphology Zones 1:5,000 ED11121-010 Hazard Zones and Ranking 1:5,000 ED11121-011 Hydrology 1:5,000 ED11121/002 November 2013 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Ltd have submitted an application to the Scottish Government under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for consent for a proposed wind farm development comprising thirty wind turbine generators (WTG’s) with a capacity of approximately 90MW. 1.2 The site known as Sandy Knowe lies approximately 1.5km southwest of Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and covers approximately 386 hectares (ha) of essentially moorland and forestry. The central grid reference for the site is NS 701 106. The site location, site boundary and proposed development layout are shown on Drawing No. ED11121/005. 1.3 WSP Environmental UK prepared a Peat Slide Risk Assessment (PSRA) to inform the layout of the proposed wind farm. The PSRA was appended to Chapter 8 of the Environmental Statement submitted as supporting information to the planning application. Following a consultation response from Halcrow, Energised Environments Ltd commissioned Wardell Armstrong LLP (WA) to carry out a review of WSP’s report and to prepare an addendum PSRA that addresses the comments made by Halcrow. 1.4 This Peat Slide Risk Assessment has been undertaken in accordance with the 2006 Scottish Executive document ‘Peat Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessments – Best Practice Guide for Proposed Electricity Developments’ (hereafter referred to as the Scottish Executive Guidance, (SEG)). The report reviews the findings from both WSP and WA to develop an appropriate hazard ranking system and typical and specific mitigation measures, where appropriate, to the access track and turbine layouts. ED11121/002 Page 1 November 2013 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment 2 SOURCES OF INFORMATION 2.1 The following sources of information relating to the Peat Study Area and surrounding land were utilised during the assessment: Table 1: Sources of Information Information Source Date Scale 2m Ordnance Survey Mapping Data – DTM Format 2013 Contours BGS Solid and Drift Map, NS60NE (Dunside) 1997 1:10,000 BGS Solid and Drift Map, Sheet NS61SE (Corsencon) 1997 1:10,000 BGS Solid and Drift Map, Sheet NS70NW (Barr Moor) 1997 1:10,000 BGS Solid and Drift Map, Sheet NS71SW (Kirkconnel) 1994 1:10,000 1:250,00 Soil Sheet 7: SE Scotland, Soil Survey of Scotland 1981 0 Macaulay Institute for Soil Research Land Capability for Agriculture Map Sheet 71 – Lanark and Upper Nithsdale, Soil 1986 1:50,000 Survey of Scotland Geological Conservation Review (GCR) Database on the Joint - - Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Scottish Executive Report ‘Peat Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessments – Best Practice Guide for Proposed Electricity 2006 - Developments’ Developments on Peatland: Site Surveys & Best Practice, Scottish Natural Heritage, SEPA, Scottish Government, The 2011 - James Hutton Institute. Forestry Commission, Scotland Report ‘ Guidelines for the Risk Management of Peat Slips on the Construction of Low 2006 - Volume/Low Cost Roads over Peat’ Lindsay & Bragg Report ‘ Wind Farms and Blanket Peat – A 2004 - Report of the Derrybrien Bog Slide’ M Long, ‘ Review of Peat Strength, Peat Characterisation and Constitutive Modelling of Peat with Reference to Landslides’, 2005 - Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica, Vol. XXVII, No. 3-4 N.B Hobbs, Mire Morphology and the Properties and Behaviours 1986 - ED11121/002 Page 2 November 2013 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment of Some British and Foreign Peats, ‘Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, Vol. 19, pp 7-80 Sandy Knowe Wind Farm – Peat Slide Risk Assessment: Factual May Report. Ref: 00020925-001-1 prepared by WSP 2012 Sandy Knowe Wind Farm – Peat Slide Risk Assessment: May Interpretive Report. Ref: 00020925-001-2 prepared by WSP 2012 ED11121/002 Page 3 November 2013 ENERGISED ENVIRONMENTS LTD Sandy Knowe Wind Farm Peat Slide Risk Assessment 3 SITE INFORMATION 3.1 Site Location 3.1.1 The site is located approximately 1.5km southwest of the villages of Kirkconnel and Kelloholm in Dumfries and Galloway, as shown on drawing number ED11121-005. New Cumnock and Sanquhar are located approximately 6.5km west and 5.9km east of the site boundary respectively.