Windfarm progress ‘needs grid overhaul’

THE promoter behind a planned €200 million wind farm in west Clare yesterday warned it will not proceed unless there is was an overhaul of the grid connection system.

Director of West Clare Renewable Energy Ltd, Padraig Howard said: “It is as bleak as that. If there is no reform, the project won’t proceed.”

He was speaking yesterday as An Bord Pleanala released documents confirming the inspector in the case recommended that planning be refused or that additional information be sought from the applicant.

The recommendation to refuse was not accepted by the board and, on Monday, it gave the green light for 29 125m-high turbine development at Mount Callan.

Mr Howard described the decision as “bittersweet as we don’t have a grid connection”.

He said, under the current regime, it may not be until 2017 or even longer before the company can commence construction on the plan and this would take two years.

“We lodged our application for a grid connection in 2007. The queue at the moment remains very long and we are near the back. There is a lack of joined up thinking in the system.”

However, Mr Howard called on the Government to fulfil its undertaking in the Programme for Government to make it easier for renewable energy projects to proceed.

He said: “If the system can be reformed, we would be able to commence construction on the wind-farm next year.”

If the wind farm is built, 30 farm families who own the 3,000 acres of upland at Mount Callan are to share a €23m windfall over 20 years.

Mr Howard said that 150 to 200 construction jobs will be created during the construction phase.

He said: “How the project proceeds now is not in our gift. This is an iconic project and is key to unlocking the green economy in the midwest.”

Explaining why it did not accept the inspector’s recommendation to refuse on visual impact, the board stated that the proposal would be acceptable in terms of visual amenity, notwithstanding the proximity to a designated “scenic route”.

It further noted the lodging of a more detailed conservation plan for the hen harrier species was satisfactory in relation to the bird.

Mr Howard said: “The board was emphatic in its decision to give the project the go-ahead on environmental, economic and social grounds.”

Mr Howard said the project will produce €750m worth of electricity during its 30-year life and will contribute €100m to the Irish exchequer.