“We need to build wind farms now and with urgency” - Wind Energy Ireland

Concerns about existing and proposed wind farms in Donegal have been well documented. Wind Energy Ireland has responded to those concerns expressed about the development and height of wind farms in the county.

Spokesperson Yvonne O’Brien issued the following response:

We are living in a climate emergency. Carbon emissions are rising and so are the bills for Irish families and businesses.

Wind energy is part of the solution.

Most of us want clean electricity at low cost, at low environmental impact, with low or no visual impact, available always and everywhere. As is often the case in life, we have to make choices and prioritise from our list of wants.

Proposed wind turbines will be over twice the height of the Statue of Liberty

"These turbines would be over twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in New York, twice the height of the wind mast already erected in Clogherachullion townland and 17m (56ft) taller than the length of the Gweebarra Bridge which is 183m (600ft) long"

Last year Ireland’s wind farms provided more than a third of the country’s electricity. Every year they save more than twice as much in carbon emissions as every other renewable energy technology combined.

Irish wind farms protect consumers every day by pushing expensive gas generators off the system and reducing our dependency on imported fossil fuels.

In January, for example, the price of electricity on the wholesale market on the windiest days was 32% cheaper than on those days when we had to rely almost solely on gas.

Clean, Irish energy powers our hospitals, charges mobile phones, cooks dinners, supports Irish business and one in every three times you boil your kettle, the electricity to do so is generated by an onshore wind farm.

WE CAN DO MORE

By 2030, 80% of Ireland’s electricity will be generated from renewable energy and onshore wind will be the largest contributor.

Make no mistake, we need to develop both onshore and offshore. If we only build at sea we cannot deliver the reductions in our carbon emissions that we need to achieve and we prolong our dependence on the imported fossil fuels that are driving the energy crisis.

CHOICES

The Climate Action Plan belongs to the Irish people - not just to the people who sit round the cabinet table. It belongs to all of us who want to continue to live in a hospitable climate and environment on this planet.

In the Climate Action Plan and in each of our County Development Plans we democratically make choices that will define the kind of world our children and grandchildren will live in. Ireland is fortunate to have a vast wind resource. That means we can choose to make our electricity largely from wind which is a sustainable source of energy with minimal impact on nature and people.

Until now relatively few of us have lived near our power stations. Generating more of our electricity from wind energy means more of us will need to become used to seeing the turbines that generate it. For some of us that’s welcome but for others that means change and adjustment.

When we face change there are bound to be queries and concerns that people will want and need to talk out. Wind farm developers want to engage in discussing your concerns and their plans, they want to answer your questions. When the representative of a wind farm knocks on your door have that chat, get involved in the process. Ask every question that comes to your mind. Ask to be pointed to reputable third party sources and make the consultation process meaningful for you.

Wind farm projects have informative websites which will provide you with ways to get in touch with their project team. Your input can bring about adjustments to plans.

In some cases, misleading and exaggerated claims about the impacts of wind farms on health, property values, the environment, tourism and other areas are repeated without sound or indeed any reference points. These claims may be at variance with information from reliable sources such as our Department of Health, the WHO, Fáilte Ireland and others.

ENVIRONMENT

The greatest threat to our environment and biodiversity is not the building of wind farms - it is climate change. If we don’t act now and with urgency to generate as much of our electricity as possible from renewable energy - and in Ireland wind is the most abundant source of renewable energy - our environment is already changed and biodiversity is already being lost to irreversible climate change.

TOURISM

There is no evidence that the development of wind energy has had a negative impact on tourism in Ireland. Between 2008 and 2017, a period when the majority of our onshore wind farms were constructed, the number of overseas visitors to Ireland rose by 21.6% according to Fáilte Ireland statistics. In Kerry, a county where tourism is undoubtedly well developed - a county that is also Ireland’s number one source of wind energy - the number of visitors to Kerry grew by 62% during those years.

Wind farms are increasingly tourism destinations with more than 50,000 visitors to Mountlucas wind farm in county Offaly in 2022.

PROPERTY

A major recent study carried out in Scotland, a country of similar size and with a similar scale wind industry to Ireland, found no evidence of a negative impact on property prices.

HEALTH

Our own Department of Health says: “There is no reliable or consistent evidence that wind farms directly cause adverse health effects in humans.”

These findings are confirmed by decades of peer-reviewed, independent research including a major report by the World Health Organisation in 2018.

Ireland can make clean, abundant energy from the wind. Supporting the generation of clean energy is the best thing we can do for our environment and biodiversity. Having abundant and affordable energy is a source security and opportunity for us all.