Solar PV Park, South Wales

The proposal was for a solar PV park in this seemingly idyllic, secluded valley in south Wales.

The reason for our brief to prepare an environmental risk assessment was the many metres depth of pulverised fly ash, which is hidden by little more than the lush green grass, and the potential for this to reach the nearby river.

The source of the pfa was a nearby power plant, now closed, which had used the valley as a place to dispose of this unwanted by product of power generation.

In some areas where the grass cover was thin there was evidence of surface run-off carrying the pfa down the valley. The impact and effectiveness of the drainage needed to be assessed. Some evidence of settlement was noted, would the construction cause any additional settlement. The possible impact of fly-tipping needed to be assessed.

The potential for impact on the local environment and specifically the river needed to be assessed both for the construction phase and during the subsequent operational phase.