The removal of subsidies for new UK onshore wind farms has presented developers with the twin challenges of seeking to maximise energy production whilst driving costs down.

Despite a comparative hiatus in onshore wind development over the past couple of years, we are now seeing developers bringing projects forward to screening, scoping and environmental impact assessment. It is clear that viable unsubsidised projects do exist, but how do they stack up against the potential environmental impacts?

The need to maximise efficiency and reduce costs will apply to all stages of a project life cycle, not least to the development phase.