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Wind Power News: Northern Ireland
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Covid-19: About half of wind turbine support not repaid
About half the Covid-19 support funds given to wind turbine owners in Northern Ireland have not yet been paid back. Fifty-two wind turbine owners received emergency £10,000 grants last year. The sector was subsequently ruled ineligible by the Department for the Economy (DfE) and it said it would try to recover the money. A new Audit Office report said “just over half” had been recovered and DfE is working to recover the rest. The report found that almost £245m was . . . Complete story »
Mid and East Antrim wind farm under Stormont ‘holding order’ as councillors go against experts
The Department for Infrastructure has put a holding order on a windfarm Mid and East Antrim councillors passed in a protected area near historic Slemish after being advised against it. Planners, the Department for Agriculture, Environmental and Rural Affairs and RSPB NI all opposed the application for seven 125m high turbines in the ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’. Among the reasons listed were fears the turbines could result in the permanent displacement of already declining curlew and hen harriers on . . . Complete story »
New £25m seven-turbine wind farm at Carnalbanagh is given green light by council
A planning application for a new wind farm at Buckna in County Antrim has been approved by councillors despite a recommendation for refusal. The £25m development consisting of seven turbines was given the go-ahead at Carnalbanagh Road, midway between Broughshane and Ballygally, by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Thursday. The council’s principal planning officer Gary McGuinness told the meeting that the application has received 962 letters of objection and 518 letters of support. The letters of . . . Complete story »
New 14-turbine wind farm proposal near Carnlough ‘at an early stage of design’
A new 14-turbine wind farm has been proposed for a site two miles from Carnlough on the Antrim coast. The project is being developed by Larne-based company Renewable Energy Systems based at Millbrook. A proposal of application notice has been submitted to the Department of Infrastructure ahead of a planning application expected to be submitted later this year. This is the same company that is behind a proposal for Ballygilbert Wind Farm outside Ballygally. In May, Mid and East Antrim’s . . . Complete story »
Bog standards
Expert reports from objectors had warned of the strong possibility of a bogslide at Invis Energy’s wind farm at Meenbog, Co Donegal. Sure enough in November the millennia-old turf moved during construction work and has caused catastrophic damage to an SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and to an Area of Special Scientific Interest in Co Tyrone. Objectors had warned as much, in reports submitted to An Bord Pleanála which had dealt with the application as a Strategic Infrastructure Development. It . . . Complete story »
Works on rivers impacted by Donegal/Tyrone bogslide may take ‘years’ to complete
Works to restore watercourses impacted by a bogslide in the North West last year could take “a number of years” to complete, according to the Loughs Agency. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, anglers in Donegal and Tyrone fear that the peat slippage near a wind farm development at Meenbog has made an important salmon fishery uninhabitable. Video of the incident, which saw thousands of tonnes of bogland slide into the River Derg system, went viral on social media in early . . . Complete story »
‘Backlash’ over 14-turbine wind farm plan on outskirts of Larne, claim
Ninety-three objections have been received to a proposed new wind farm on the outskirts of Larne, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Planning Committee heard at a meeting on Thursday morning. A planning proposal has been lodged for 14 turbines to be erected at Ballygilbert three kilometres north west of Cairncastle. A decision is to be taken by the Department for Infrastructure’s Strategic Planning Directorate as it is considered to be a “regionally significant application” due to the proposed operating . . . Complete story »
Anger at ongoing ‘related works’ at controversial Meenbog windfarm
Local councillors have expressed dismay that ‘related works’ are continuing in connection with the controversial Meenbog Wind Farm. Works were supposed to cease at the site following a major landslide last November. Hundreds of cubic metres of peat and debris entered into a stream and on to the Mournebeg River from the site of the wind farm, near Ballybofey on the Donegal-Tyrone border. However, at today’s meeting of the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District, a senior Donegal County Council engineer confirmed that . . . Complete story »
Approval sought for controversial wind farm project near Cairncastle
A controversial proposal for a new wind farm would have a “huge visual impact on one of Northern Ireland’s most scenic areas”, a Mid and East Antrim councillor has stated. DUP Councillor Andrew Clarke, a Coast Road representative, made the comment on social media over a planning proposal for 14 turbines to be erected at Ballygilbert three kilometres north west of Cairncastle. The application has been submitted by Larne-based renewables energy company RES which says that it represents £24.2m investment . . . Complete story »
In the rush to protect the environment we are willing to damage it
Richer countries are pushing renewable energies which are carbon neutral, such as wind and solar and tide and geothermal. Other advances, such as vastly improved insulation in buildings, will help create a much less polluted world. Nuclear power, which is controversial but which does not produce carbon dioxide, ought to be a key part of modern energy sources, is heavily used in nations such as France but rejected in others such as Germany, because it produces waste. In Northern Ireland, . . . Complete story »
