January 31, 2012
Ireland

Huge new towers for Clonegal area

DAVID MEDCALF, New Ross Standard, www.newrossstandard.ie 31 January 2012

The countryside south of Clonegal is set to become a major centre of green energy, with the granting of planning permission to local landholder Andy Nolan for three huge windmills. The 85 metre towers are due to be erected in the townland of Ballinastraw next to a six-turbine wind farm that is already in the pipeline.

The 6.9 megawatt development submitted by Andy Nolan was given the thumbs-up by the planners at Wexford County Council after no objections were raised to the move.

The 50 hectare site is located north east of Bunclody town across a valley from Gibbet Hill.

At present the land is under a mixture of grass and grain, with views across the three counties of Wexford, Wicklow and Carlow. Local residents Eamon Rawson and Tom Finn, whose houses are within 500 metres of the proposed windmills, have consented to the development, while landowners Thomas Handrick, Joe Redmond, Andy Kehoe, Mogue Mahon and Andy Kinsella have also filed letters of consent.

The application was submitted with documentation drawn up by Wexford based environmental consultants Ted Walsh & Associates. The approval clears the way for the landscape between Bunclody and Clonegal to take on a new dimension with nine massive towers now in the offing.

Ballindaggin Green Energy was previously given planning permission for six turbines of similar size on an adjoining site, slightly to the west. The Ballindaggin group has already commissioned a dozen windmills in the hills around Ballindaggin and Castledockrell.

For many years, the four turbines at Kilbranish north west of Bunclody were the only wind generators in the area but now a string of towers is springing up across the breezy north Wexford countryside.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/31/huge-new-towers-for-clonegal-area/