Wind farms generate plenty of interest

Land Uses:There are 60-plus wind farms operating in Ireland and many more are in the pipeline as landowners wake up to the wind energy potential of their land.

Wind speed is by far the most important issue for the potential wind farm developer, says Emmet Egan, chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Association's public affairs committee and a wind specialist at Coillte.

Generally speaking, the most exposed sites will generate the most electricity and the higher the better. Areas which have a wind speed of eight metres per second or more are generally considered commercially viable, says Graham Brennan, programme manager for renewable energy research and development at Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

For an approximate guide to how windy your area is, log onto SEI's wind atlas at www.sei.ie. The site also contains lots of good advice on how to develop a wind farm.

The organisation also sells more in-depth and flexible wind farm planning tools to developers for around €200. These tools are regularly used by wind developers "prospecting" for high-potential wind energy sites around the country, he says.

Other factors influencing how viable a wind farm on your land may be include the size of the site (around 400 metres of space is needed between each wind turbine) and access by road to the site, says Egan.

Even more important is accessibility to a local grid entry point and the capacity of the grid at that point to transport electricity from the proposed site, he says.

A wind farm will ideally suit poor quality uphill land that can't be farmed or forested.

Costal areas along the western seaboard, which have high wind speeds and low population densities, have been targeted by wind farm developers.

Planning permission is the next step. Kerry County Council was the first local authority to come up with a wind development strategy and has divided the county into three areas - preferred wind farm areas, areas where farms would be considered and no-go areas, which are generally in scenic parts of the county.

Other local authorities, such as Cork and west Clare, have followed suit and drawn up wind development strategies.

Securing planning is generally not a problem in Ireland, says Egan. But it can be a costly business, he warns. Expect to pay €200,000 for planning costs for an average wind farm, he says.

Getting hooked up to the grid network is the next hurdle. Be warned that grid connection can be costly and may take up to two years to complete. Once everything else is in order financing is usually not a problem, with banks having a positive view of wind farms, says Egan.

Financial institutions are happy to finance up to 85 per cent of a wind farm project costs subject to several assurances, according to SEI.

Typical investment costs are in the region of €1,100 per kw installed. The figure represents the total project cost, including the planning, equipment building, commissioning and decommissioning costs. Turbines generally account for around 70 per cent of the total project costs.