Sites for windfarms - Why not move them out to sea?

The position adopted by north Kerry councillors on windfarms is rational and understandable. They want the county’s new six-year plan to ban any new turbines in an area where planning permission for 400 has been granted, half of which have not been built.

Even though it is essential to develop renewable energy sources, the impact concentrations of windfarms can have on communities should not be underestimated. They may have a certain beauty from afar, but when one is built close to a home it can have a very unwelcome impact and not just on property values. Were this a landlocked country it might not be possible to object to these windfarms — it would be an unaffordable luxury in a country that imports 90% of its energy.

As we have such and extensive coastline, it is difficult to understand why we, unlike so many other European countries, have not developed more windfarms at sea, hereby safeguarding the beauty of our countryside while developing essential alternative energy sources. Developers would undoubtedly argue that cost is a defining factor, but current arrangements mean that rural communities and everyone who cherishes our natural heritage pays the price while others profit. This is heavily-subsidised, some critics suggest it would not survive without Government subsidies. Maybe all on-land windfarms should be vetoed until we are told — convincingly — why they cannot be moved to sea.