Wind Farm planned for Offshore Wicklow

The project, involving the construction of 200 masts, will generate 500 megawatts of electricity - enough to provide electricity to 500,000 homes. It will cost close to £500 million and the first electricity should begin to flow by the end of 2001. This will prevent the burning of over half a million tons of coal per year and avoid the release of substantial amounts of carbon dioxide - the primary cause of climate change.

The Future in Wicklow

The project is being built by Eirtricity, a joint venture between Future Wind Partnership and National Toll Roads plc (see www.eirtricity.ie). The stated aim of the company is to "harness Ireland's greatest natural resources to create a customer choice of alternative energy while reducing pollution, reducing imports and creating jobs".

While the Wicklow project is by far the biggest that Eirtricity has planned it is by no means the first. The company already sells green electricity produced from its wind farms in Gweedore, Co Donegal and is developing similar projects at Slieve Rushen in Cavan and Cuillaigh, Co. Donegal where 18 new wind turbines will pump 12 megawatts of green electricity into the national grid. Mr. Eddie O'Connor, Managing Director of Eirtricity, says Eirtricity is "very encouraged by the fact that customers are genuinely interested in caring for our environment and are willing to take the green option".

Wind is one of the country's greatest resources and is one that will last indefinitely, unlike the rapidly dissappearing bog lands and turf burned by the ESB. Ireland is ideally suited to generating wind power as some of the strongest winds in Northern Europe blow from the north and southwest coast.

Clean Energy

According to Lawrence Staudt, Chief Executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association "We have a very simple choice in Ireland, we can continue to dump millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere through traditional fossil fuel electricity generation, or we can embrace our greatest national resource - wind energy. While Ireland is importing 75% of its energy requirements and in a business as usual scenario, will be importing 90% of its primary energy requirements by 2010, we are ignoring our largest natural resource and adding greatly to the pollution burden in the atmosphere. Potentially, there are 640,000 megawatts of wind energy flowing over Ireland. If we were to harness this energy, we could supply enough electricity to power at least 80 Irelands.

For further information on wind energy generation see http://www.iwea.com