To demonstrate best practice in managing environmental impacts, infrastructure projects, such as wind farms, should consider a life cycle perspective, including for installation. As such, the growing renewables sector presents significant opportunities for the trenchless pipeline industry.
The Clean Energy Council reported recently that for the first time, wind was Australia’s leading source of renewable energy. Now accounting for more than 35% of the country’s renewable energy, wind power is gaining a higher profile in the renewables sector, aided by days such as today – Global Wind Day.
For a country like Australia, wind power makes sense. With wide, open spaces and good wind resources such as the Roaring Forties – as well as current government policies aiming for 75% of Australia’s electricity generation via renewables by 2040 – we’re expecting significant investment in wind projects in the coming decades.
But wind energy still has to go where it is needed: the grid. To do so, a pipeline is normally required. Considering cadastral and physical obstacles – in the case of offshore wind farms, for example, the pipeline must cross a marine environment – underground pipelines are often preferred.
These pipelines are commonly trenched in. But for infrastructure aimed at long-term protection and preservation of the environment, the clearing of vegetation, disturbance of flora and fauna habitats, and digging up of an environment to lay a pipeline can be problematic.
ISO 14001 and the life cycle perspective
The peak international environmental management standard, ISO 14001, requires certified organisations (like us) to consider a “life cycle perspective” in their activities and product and service provision. This is because some of an organisation’s most significant environmental impacts can occur during stages that are not as obvious – such as infrastructure establishment.
This is especially true for projects such as wind farms. With establishment and disposal of infrastructure contributing a large proportion of the environmental impact of wind projects over their lifespan, the impact of infrastructure installation must form part of this process in considering best practice.
HDD: low impact environmentally and economically
Pipelines installed via HDD generally have long working lifespans, are resistant to damage, and require minimal, if any, maintenance over their lifetimes. They are not only environmentally lower impact to install, but critically, they are usually durable and long-lived – their location deep underground provides protection from sources of damage, such as inadvertent excavation and fire – meaning that further impacts of repairing or replacing the pipeline (environmental, economic, and otherwise) are minimised.
For these reasons, we believe HDD and other trenchless methods provide real benefits for the renewables sector, including wind projects. We’re already seeing some wind projects around the world – such as Hornsea 2 and Star of the South – utilising HDD for installation, and with 30 new wind projects under construction or due to commence soon in Australia, we’re keen to see the opportunities that future projects will bring.
Days like today – Global Wind Day – bring attention to the exciting possibilities of wind power. But we also urge those who are investing in, and managing, these projects to keep in mind the long-term protection and preservation of the environment when considering renewables infrastructure installation. By using trenchless pipeline installation methods, such as HDD, environmental impacts over project life cycles can be minimised, further contributing to the environmental performance and credibility of the renewables sector.