Wind farms boost Centrica IT

Energy giant Centrica is investing in document management software to help manage its growing commitment to renewable energy sources.

The company already has one fully operational wind farm – a 22-turbine site at Glens of Foudland, Scotland – and there are plans for five larger farms to be built in the coming years.

The renewable energy team responsible for managing construction and maintenance of the farms has grown to 25 from just four people when it was established in 2004.

The old Windows-based file structure was fine with fewer people, but is less suited to a more complex environment, says Centrica project manager Ross Ovens.

‘We realised we needed to get more control over the information we have and to manage the way we share that information,’ said Ovens.

‘As the team grows we will have a lot of documents and a lot of information to manage, and we will be working with a lot of people,’ he said.

The software from BuildOnline is expected to go live this week, and will be used by the Centrica team and about 25 external contractors.

It establishes an audit trail as documents are checked in and out, and replaces a system where documents are sent by email and changes cannot be tracked.

‘With so many people involved, managing all the communications and having an audit trail is invaluable,’ said Ovens.

The Glens of Foudland wind farm can generate 26 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 16,000 homes. A 30-turbine offshore farm at Barrow in Furness is under construction and will provide for 65,000 homes, and there are plans for two 90-megawatt farms to be built off the Lincolnshire coast and three larger offshore projects at Lincs, Race Bank and Docking Shoal.

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