August 22, 2012
Northern Ireland

Wind power discussed last night at council

Londonderry Sentinel | www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk 22 August 2012

Concerns about the proliferation of wind turbines throughout the Roe Valley area were raised during a meeting of Limavady Borough Council last night.

Representatives of ‘Simple Power’ met with elected councillors to outline the importance of medium scale wind energy projects and to attempt to enlist the support of councillors.

Others were present at the meeting, however, who are openly opposed to the continuing proliferation of wind turbines throughout the Limavady Borough. Carlo McCloskey, Chairman of Roe Valley Anti Wind Farm Association, went to the meeting with the express aim of finding out just how his concerns about the sheer volume of wind farms were being addressed by councillors.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr McCloskey said: “I will be in attendance at the meeting myself.

I know that the people going to the meeting are Simple Power, who are not one of the largest companies out there, but I will certainly be in attendance to see if some of my concerns are raised.

“Having been across the water recently, I noted that householders are getting council tax reductions, according to reports in the newspapers over there, because they are not able to sell their homes because people are not prepared to buy houses near wind farms.

“If people are getting reductions in council tax over there – I would be very interested to see what questions the councillors will be asking about rates and whether or not people will be getting their rates lowered because they are living quite close to a wind farm and that is taking away from the value of their house.

“I would like to know if the councillors will be enquiring about how the wind farm companies are going to do about the value of people’s homes. It will certainly be interesting to see the council’s reaction.”

Simple Power, however, work in partnership with landowners to develop single 250kW wind turbines that connect to the Northern Ireland grid. Single wind turbine projects are relatively quick to develop in comparison to traditional wind farms and benefit the rural economy by enabling farmers and landowners to participate in renewable generation.

Paul Carson, CEO of Simple Power, speaking ahead of last night’s meeting said: “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to present to Limavady Borough Council on Tuesday and to meet with Councillors who I understand are very interested in hearing about the role of wind energy in providing clean, safe and affordable energy for future generations.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/08/22/wind-power-discussed-last-night-at-council/