Wind Farm for NCD

bcmf

Found out over the weekend that a major wind farm is in the pipeline ,how far in the pipeline I dont know, for North County.
Basically in 2 parts.
1) stretching across the 'high ground' from halfway between Boughal to the Nags head (top of the Bog of the Ring). Well something has to have a view of the dump
2) From cross of the cage to Man O War area.

The Hill Billy

What is the source of this information?

Martron

i dont see the problem with wind farms. i dont think they are bad looking.

its that or a big coal oil burning power plant. and believe it or not i know modern ones can be better camoflagued with coloured paints.

bcmf

Hill Billy wrote: »

What is the source of this information?

The person who told me owns some of the land upon which some of the turbines will be built.

sNarah

I see this as a good thing! It's energy friendly and makes a sense.
Plus - like Matron said - I find they add to the landscape, the one over at Country Crest is already a sort of landmark, and the bigs ones up Dunalk, I think they are looking allright!

I don't think the ESB will be too happy with it though - they aren't with Country Crest's one anyway...

bcmf

sNarah wrote: »

I don't think the ESB will be too happy with it though - they aren't with Country Crest's one anyway...

I believe , and I stand to be corrected , that the owners of Country Crest had a lot of grief from ESB with regards to their Turbine.
Country Crest seem to indicate that they would slash their ESB cost and have the cost of Turbine paid for within 3 yrs and would be well on their way to be ( a high percentage anyway) self sufficient energy wise and put an end to the stranglehold ESB had on them.
Also CC estimated they would produce more then enough energy to supply their own needs therefore be able to put back into the National Grid. However the ESB would take the power but would not pay for it.
As I said all of the above stands open to corrrection.

Bluetonic

Two items of note on this issue.

sNarah

bcmf wrote: »

I believe , and I stand to be corrected , that the owners of Country Crest had a lot of grief from ESB with regards to their Turbine.
Country Crest seem to indicate that they would slash their ESB cost and have the cost of Turbine paid for within 3 yrs and would be well on their way to be ( a high percentage anyway) self sufficient energy wise and put an end to the stranglehold ESB had on them.
Also CC estimated they would produce more then enough energy to supply their own needs therefore be able to put back into the National Grid. However the ESB would take the power but would not pay for it.
As I said all of the above stands open to corrrection.

I have heard similar issues being said - from reliable sources.

Apparently, the planning permission holds a clausule from the ESB - that if the surrounding area falls without electricity (i.e. (temporary) power cut or similar), Country Crest HAVE to switch off the wind mill!

sNarah

Bluetonic wrote: »

Two items of note on this issue.

Very intersting read indeed - thanks for sharing.
On that note, for the lazier reader: skip to page 33/34 of the second document for considerations of wind farms in the local area.

Some area's quoted from the document here, I believe the area the OP heard about is the first one:

Naul uplands Open to Consideration HA zoning in hilly and rural area

with good views in all directions
result in a quality rural setting.

Garristown uplands Open to Consideration HA zoning in raised rural area
with good but limited views of
the surrounding countryside.

Rural band between Swords
green belt and Naul
Acceptable on Principle Open expanse of country side
with low rolling hills mean this
area is considered to be suitable
for the location of wind energy
development.

Green belt to north, east and
west of Swords
Open to consideration Low rolling hills to the north and
west of this area, and flatter
landscape located to the east
and south west are of limited
landscape value. The landscape
to the south west is considered
to be particularly suitable for
wind energy development.
The total area has a high rural
amenity and recreational value
for the residents of Swords. Any
proposed wind energy
development must act to
maintain this amenity.

bcmf

Thanks from the Lazier reader

expectationlost

i dont mind wind turbines, for all their greeness their essentially industrialising an area, (not that most farming isn't industrial also)

Hauk

Tbh, I think wind farms look the business. A step in the right direction of renewable energy. It's like integrating the countryside with modern technology and provides clean energy.

The ESB need to grow up.

Thumbs up for a windfarm from me!

Sparky84

A slight problem with wind farms is the fact that you cannot control when or how much they produce compared to conventional methods of generation like oil and gas. I have to laugh when the greeners are all against nuclear power when we are importing it in from Scotland through Northern Ireland 24/7.

bcmf

Sparky84 wrote: »

A slight problem with wind farms is the fact that you cannot control when or how much they produce compared to conventional methods of generation like oil and gas. I have to laugh when the greeners are all against nuclear power when we are importing it in from Scotland through Northern Ireland 24/7.

I dont know what kinda power they create but i know that the one at Country Crest is almost always turning even when the air is still at ground level.

LeoB

I am one of the lazy readers!!!

How we dont have more of these wind farms is beyond me. Look at our position and coastline, especially the West of Irelad. There is no reason why we cant have 2 or 3 supplying Galway, Limerick, Cork. It had been proposed that 1 be built a few miles of Wicklow/South Dublin which would provide a lot of enery for that area and take huge pressure of the grid.

Bluetonic

LeoB wrote: »

It had been proposed that 1 be built a few miles of Wicklow/South Dublin which would provide a lot of enery for that area and take huge pressure of the grid.

The prevailing wind for Ireland is south-westerly, surely this would rule out wind farms off the coast of Wicklow/South Dublin.

Sparky84

There are wind turbines operating off the coast of Arklow for the past few years.

Beasty

Bluetonic wrote: »

The prevailing wind for Ireland is south-westerly, surely this would rule out wind farms off the coast of Wicklow/South Dublin.

You will still get wind, although not as much as on the West coast. I believe there is already one wind farm off the Wicklow coast.

Interesting wiki article here on wind power in Ireland

Bluetonic

Sparky84 wrote: »

There are wind turbines operating off the coast of Arklow for the past few years.

Can't see how they would provide electricity for the whole area of Wicklow/South Dublin without a strong wind.

Bluetonic

Beasty wrote: »

You will still get wind, although not as much as on the West coast. I believe there is already one wind farm off the Wicklow coast.

I can't imagine they would be sufficient to power the area Leo has indicated without have many multiples of what is currently there, and I can't see that every getting permission.

Martron

if you fly into dublin airport if you were coming from spain for instance you can see a big bank of wind turbines off the east coast.

Bluetonic

Martron wrote: »

if you fly into dublin airport if you were coming from spain for instance you can see a big bank of wind turbines off the east coast.

How many are there and how much power do they produce on average over a year does anyone know?

Beasty

Bluetonic wrote: »

How many are there and how much power do they produce on average over a year does anyone know?

The wiki article I linked to above has this information for most of the current and proposed wind farms in and around Ireland

The Hill Billy

Bluetonic wrote: »

How many are there and how much power do they produce on average over a year does anyone know?

There are seven turbines in the Arklow offshore windfarm generating 25MW.
See the SSE Renewables site for more info.

Bluetonic

Hill Billy wrote: »

There are seven turbines in the Arklow offshore windfarm generating 25MW.
See the SSE Renewables site for more info.

That doesn't answer my question, thats the max output if there is wind for 24 hours a day.

It's not realistic to use this figure as the output generated.

Trying to work out how many homes can rely on these based on real output, I believe it's small (a few thousand)

RobFowl

Bluetonic wrote: »

That doesn't answer my question, thats the max output if there is wind for 24 hours a day.

It's not realistic to use this figure as the output generated.

Trying to work out how many homes can rely on these based on real output, I believe it's small (a few thousand)

It's only from memory but I believe one turbine can supply the needs of 1-200 houses.

Bluetonic

RobFowl wrote: »

It's only from memory but I believe one turbine can supply the needs of 1-200 houses.

There are debatable figures online, range from 200 to 1000 homes per 1MW, each Arklow one is max 3MW.

These turbines aren't generating full capacity.

I'm trying to find out what they actually produce against what they can. I imagine it's significantly smaller.

Beasty

Bluetonic wrote: »

There are debatable figures online, range from 200 to 1000 homes per 1MW, each Arklow one is max 3MW.

These turbines aren't generating full capacity.

I'm trying to find out what they actually produce against what they can. I imagine it's significantly smaller.

From the wiki article:

On the 19th Jan 2010, the Republic of Ireland had an installed wind power capacity of 1260.4 megawatts. Recent years have seen a marked increase in the level of wind power generation, three times more than the total of 495.2 megawatts in 2005. In 2008 alone, the rate of growth was 54.6%, amongst the highest in the world.On July 31, 2009, the output from the country's turbines peaked at 999 megawatts. During certain times that day, up to 39 percent of Ireland’s demand for electricity was met from wind. On October 24, 2009, the output exceeded 1000 megawatts for the first time with a peak of 1064 MW.

Bluetonic

Beasty wrote: »

From the wiki article:

Thanks but as I said already I'm trying to ascertain how much of the 25MW max output for the Arklow grid is actually generated. Therefore giving some indication as to how efficient wind farms are on the Irish sea.

The Hill Billy

I suggest that you call SSE Renewables for that information then.

Bluetonic

Hill Billy wrote: »

I suggest that you call SSE Renewables for that information then.

No thanks it's not that important to me, thank you for the suggestion though.

I thought one of the fonts of knowledge on the subject might have known here.