Protection of the environment is an ideal that most people and interest groups subscribe to in theory. But personal considerations frequently get in the way of rational analysis when it comes to balancing the various issues involved. The construction of windfarms and the proliferation of windmills in upland and scenic areas has been largely driven by speculative investment and have proceeded in an ad hoc fashion. As a result, this clean, alternative energy industry has become a prime target for those people opposed to change. Unless the Government adopts a more organised, progressive and supportive approach, the generation of electricity through the use of windfarms will cause the same kind of opposition at local level that accompanies proposals for the location of landfills, incinerators or mobile telephone masts.
Opposition to the construction of a £15 million windfarm at Moneypoint, Co. Clare, is a good example of that emerging attitude. The ESB is about to seek planning permission for the erection of ten, 100 metre high wind turbines on the site of its existing coal-fired station that would produce 20 megawatts of electricity and supply power to 15,000 households. Some local people are preparing to object on the grounds that the windmills will be visually obtrusive. The windmills will, of course, be obtrusive. But not as obtrusive as the twin, 200 metre tall smokestacks on the site that currently belch smoke into the sky.
There are indications the Government is waking up to the danger of generalised opposition to windfarms. Early last year, under pressure to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, it commissioned a study on how wind energy development might be accelerated. It has now begun to act on those recommendations. Some weeks ago, the Departments of Public Enterprise and Environment and Local Government joined in asking local authorities to supply them with maps identifying regions that would be suitable for windfarms and others that would be definite "no go" areas.
Such information is expected to become available within six months and it should ensure that electricity generating companies will no longer apply for planning permission in unsuitable areas. In the meantime, the Government is expected to announce further financial support mechanisms for alternative energy projects within the next two months. Given the threatened shortfall in electricity supplies, it will support the generation of a further 150 megawatts through windfarms and 50 megawatts in hydro and biomass generation.
Of course people have a right to object to developments under the Planning Acts. But there is a need for balance; to recognise that communities are interdependent and that innovation in one area benefits people elsewhere. On the development side, companies should recognise that the optimum sites for windmills in technical terms should be filtered through a recognition of substantial local concerns in high amenity areas. In that regard, it should be possible to blend obtrusive white turbines into a mountainous boggy landscape through the use of camouflage colouring.