Environment

Wind farms are key element in Ireland’s energy future, but are a blight on the landscape for some

Kerry is the county with the vast majority of wind farms

Fred O’Sullivan (right), chairman of the Sliabh Luachra Wind Awareness Group, with Peter and Caroline Cooke, at a windfarm at Barna, near Scartaglen, Co Kerry. Proposed wind turbines would be 350m from the Cookes' house in Barna. Photograph: Valerie O’Sullivan

Anne Lucey
Sun Jun 19 2022 - 16:59

A picture can tell a thousand words.

The map that shows the distribution of onshore windfarms across the State was drawn up in December 2019 by the Ordnance Survey and Sustainable Energy Ireland.

It was revised in February 2022 by Kerry County Council ahead of a debate by members of the council in April on the county’s development plan to cover the next six years.

The numbers are striking. By last February, Kerry was home to 364 wind turbines. Cork has 305, but every other county is in the ha’penny place, with Waterford having just 25. Longford and Westmeath have none.

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Following years when Kerry County Council offered a welcome to wind farms, the local temper has changed in the face of growing local opposition to the ones that are already in place, and the prospect of more.

The development plan now demands that turbines are placed 1.5km away from homes, a near impossibility in a county where single bungalows are dotted everywhere.

The final plan will be voted on in July, but opposition to more windfarms is provoking an unusual level of agreement among councillors.

During strong exchanges, the local authority’s chief executive Moira Murrell cautioned that the councillors’ rejection of wind energy in all but a corner of the county risked the intervention of the planning regulator.

“The map is simple. Kerry is black because of the scale of the development. The Planning Regulator has no reason to blow us out of the water when it comes to that map,” countered Cllr Niall O’Callaghan, a local hotelier.

The Planning Regulator has already made his objections known, warning in February that the “constraints” could “significantly and unreasonably” limit the development of wind farms.

However, there is little doubt but that the changing official attitudes in Kerry reflect local opinion, since there were 1,500 submissions lodged from Scartaglin and East Kerry alone about wind energy, far more than on any other single issue.

Fred O’Sullivan of Sliabh Luachra Wind Awareness, which took a successful High Court challenge to a wind farm, says Kerry was too compliant for too long.

“I’d like to spend a day with the Planning Regulator here in Kerry,” O’Sullivan went on, “I just hope the chief executive and the council stand firm now. We have made our sacrifice in Kerry. It’s time to stand up to the regulator,” he said.

For now, the development plan marks a dramatic change in official attitudes in Kerry towards wind energy, bar two amendments which clear the way for turbines to the east and northeast of Kilgarvan.

Kerry’s popularity to date with wind farm developers is easily explained – the presence of a 220,000 volt line running from Tarbert and south and eastwards to Cork City, with three sub-stations along the way.

The line, one of only a small number in the country, is “an energy motorway”, and with its substations was planned in advance of the wind farms which came on stream later, says Damien Ginty, senior planner with Kerry County Council.

“The landowners in Kerry were also open-minded. Let’s not forget about that,” Ginty told The Irish Times, pointing to the initial keenness among farmers for extra income.

However, Ginty rejects charges that Kerry County Council ever put national demands ahead of local concerns, but adds that the local authority does want to comply with nationally set climate change targets.

But, equally, he acknowledges that Kerry has made a bigger contribution than elsewhere: “Kerry has the largest number of installed wind turbines and installed MW (megawatt) output of all counties.

“[It has] by far the largest installed MW per square kilometre, with 364 wind turbines and a potential output over 742 MW,” he adds, even though 40 per cent of the county is protected under European and Irish environmental legislation.

Jackie Healy-Rae, the youngest scion of the Kilgarvan-based political dynasty, is vocal in his criticism, arguing that Castleisland and its surrounding districts are now home to 180 wind turbines – or 48 per cent of Co Kerry’s total.

“In fact, if the counties of Dublin, Meath, Wicklow, Offaly, Carlow and Laois all doubled their current number of turbines, Leinster would still would have less than Kerry at today’s rate,” Healy-Rae declared.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited updates on the national 2006 wind energy guidelines are still awaited, the Department of Housing says, adding that “a focused review” of the 2006 guidelines is under way.

The review is addressing a number of key aspects including noise, setback distance, community dividend and grid connections, said the Department.

Work on environmental noise is being finalised together with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, which has primary responsibility for environmental noise matters.

Michael Horan, a leading light in the Scartaglin Wind Awareness Group, which alone lodged almost 1,500 submissions against any further wind turbines in its locality, knows which way the wind is blowing most days.

Depending on the day, the noise from the Bearna wind farm located 1km away is audible in his Scartaglin home.

Until councillors rejected proposals for any further wind development, the planning zoning covered all the lands around his house. “Hopefully, the councillors will stick to their guns and do the best they can for East and North Kerry,” he said.

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