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PROPOSED WIND FARMS

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  • 06-11-2012 10:57am
    #1
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭


    Just wondering on peoples level of awareness of proposed wind turbines in the Westmeath area and accross the Midlands.I believe negotiations are ongoing with the IFA ,the developement company ,and landowners on proposed locations.Thes meetings are not public knowledge.There has been two public information meetings held in the Bloomfield hotel by the Lake Lands Windfarm Information Group.It is alarming the proposed size of the turbines (540 ft).The Cathedral looks like a toy beside one.It is an American company which is trying to proceed with this.All electricty generated is to be exported to Great Britan.The developers are trying to get it classed as major strategic importance hence bypasssing our local planning authority and going straight to an Board Pleanala.


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    #2
    childsplay
    Registered Users Posts: 169 ✭✭childsplay


    I have heard nothing about this and I am guessing that quite a lot of other people are in the same boat. If the benefits were going to be felt here I might take a different view but as they are going to another country, I am completely opposed to this idea.


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    #3
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    It is fair to say that every one is in favour clean energy.However the sheer size of these turbines are enormous.The way that the developement company is handling its afairs is alarming.Contact your local elected representatives.The are all aware of what is happening.


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    #4
    Eiriu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 106 ✭✭Eiriu


    It is absolutely ridiculous that we should even consider building these wind farms throughout the Irish Countryside. They should only be built in area which have very low populations such as large bogs or coastal areas.

    British policy is not to build these windfarms as they are unsightly and ruin the countryside landscape. However they need a certain amount of green energy in order to fulfill global warming commitments and are therefore looking to deface the Irish countryside. Will they be looking to build these near historical sites such as Uisneach?

    I know Ireland is broke at the moment but there are many other ways which we can generate funds. We should be concentrating on developing our digital capabilities. We could by teaching programming in primary and secondry schools, to give ourselves a unique strategic advanatage at what is the dawn of the internet age. We are a creative people and therefore well positioned to excel in this new information age. The oil which has been found should also be taxed accordingly.


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    #5
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    Current planning laws will allow one of these turbines to be erected 500 metres from the nearest dwelling.This is far to close considering their height.Studies carried out reveal that people living near these turbines suffer headaches ,anxiety.sleepness due to constant noise.It is important people start to investigate where these turbines are to be located.There are quite a few proposed for Westmeath.It is planed that these wind farms will be in full production by end 2018.If planning is approved it will be too late protesting !


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    #6
    Eiriu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 106 ✭✭Eiriu


    Where can you see where they are going to be built.

    They will undoubtedly disturb anyone one in their area, they should'nt be built in Westmeath. The local people, bar landowners will not benefit at all from them but they will be negatively effected.

    How are windfarms suited to the Irish countryside, but disallowed in Britain?


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    #7
    Jesus Shaves
    Registered Users Posts: 2,959 ✭✭✭Jesus Shaves


    great idea, whether people like it or not renewable energy sources are the way forward, Anyone against them need to get out of the stone age and start living up to reality


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    #8
    nice_guy80
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,722 ✭✭✭nice_guy80


    Jesus Shaves wrote: »
    great idea, whether people like it or not renewable energy sources are the way forward, Anyone against them need to get out of the stone age and start living up to reality

    will they be built beside your house?


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    #9
    hedzball
    Registered Users Posts: 764 ✭✭✭hedzball


    Eiriu wrote: »
    It is absolutely ridiculous that we should even consider building these wind farms throughout the Irish Countryside. They should only be built in area which have very low populations such as large bogs or coastal areas.



    Oh you mean like Westmeath yeah?. :P


    I'd put money on costal areas having a far denser population.

    I don't see peoples problem to them aesthetic wise. They are rather majestic in there own right.

    I'm waiting for comments on about how much noise they produce next :rolleyes::rolleyes: (which is shag all and I have em just over half a mile up the road).

    The downfalls are they just aren't viable.

    The infrastructure costs involved are stupid! the only reason they are putting out power is because they are getting huge subsidies. .



    Irelands finest gimmick... But sure if it gives lads work..




    'hdz


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    #10
    Jesus Shaves
    Registered Users Posts: 2,959 ✭✭✭Jesus Shaves


    nice_guy80 wrote: »
    will they be built beside your house?

    I wouldn't mind if they were


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    #11
    athlonelad
    Registered Users Posts: 443 ✭✭athlonelad


    I personally don't believe we have enough renewable energy in this country at all. Its something we should be investing in.
    I'd love to have my house powered by wind. 500m is a pretty big distance to be fair. There won't be much noise from that far away.


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    #12
    childsplay
    Registered Users Posts: 169 ✭✭childsplay


    The major problem I can see with this is that we won't get the benefits of this project. The power will be supplied to the british grid. The land owners will get an annual payment but the rest of us get no benefit from them. The British grid needs more power but only a percentage is allowed to come from wind as the wind power is only generated as long as the wind is blowing. That's why they are looking to come in to Ireland and erect these turbines.


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    #13
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,064 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    childsplay wrote: »
    The land owners will get an annual payment but the rest of us get no benefit from them.
    Other than a few hundred jobs of course, in construction and maintenance. And taxes. Maybe a bit of infrastructure. Oh yeah, expertise in wind energy.


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    #14
    Iomega Man
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Iomega Man


    Jesus Shaves wrote: »
    great idea, whether people like it or not renewable energy sources are the way forward, Anyone against them need to get out of the stone age and start living up to reality

    Be that as it may I doubt that you'd like one on your doorstep.

    More importantly one of the issues raised when there was a proposal to build these out in Gaybrook was that the company would have an input as regards planning regulations in the area.

    Basically, you want to apply for planning permission you can be automatically turned if the windfarm company feel that this impinges on their operation in any way.

    So it has implications for generations to come.

    They are a bloody blight on the landscape!!!

    They should get their heads out of their asses and explore wave/tidal options instead.

    Think of all that energy being wasted on the cliffs and shoreline of this country.

    IM


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    #15
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,064 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    Iomega Man wrote: »
    They are a bloody blight on the landscape!!!
    What landscape?
    We're talking about Westmeath here, not Connemara. Something new and modern like windfarms could only improve the place. At least there would be something to look at.


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    #16
    Outkast_IRE
    Registered Users Posts: 7,516 ✭✭✭Outkast_IRE


    How many of the objecters on here have actually visited a wind farm ?

    I can tell you this, they arent noisy once your a few hundred meters away. You should visit a site.

    Even though planning permission says 500 meters minimum, they will look at location of dwellings thouroughly when choosing their sites.


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    #17
    Iomega Man
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Iomega Man


    Gurgle wrote: »
    What landscape?
    We're talking about Westmeath here, not Connemara. Something new and modern like windfarms could only improve the place. At least there would be something to look at.

    Well simply put, beauty definitely is in the eye of the beholder.
    I'm sorry that you don't share that.


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    #18
    ifeelill
    Registered Users Posts: 502 ✭✭✭ifeelill


    paidinanthony wrote: »
    It is an American company which is trying to proceed with this.



    Why is that relevant are you a racist ?


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    #19
    Eiriu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 106 ✭✭Eiriu


    Westmeath contains the Hill of Uisneach, which is an important historical site in the context of our national history and what it means to be Irish.


    To suggest that Westmeath has no landscape is fairly stupid.


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    #20
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    I think that some people are missing the point here.The energy here will be all exported.These turbines will be almost 200metres high.There are no inland turbines of this size at the moment.As bad as property prices are at the moment,can you imagine what a 200metre high monstrosity would do to the value of your house.The annoying part is this company Airstream is already lobbying politicians.The people living near these turbines may have very little hope of stopping them.


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    #21
    hedzball
    Registered Users Posts: 764 ✭✭✭hedzball


    ifeelill wrote: »
    Why is that relevant are you a racist ?

    Hardly racist now is it?..

    Bigotry maybe..

    But he hasn't said more merely an enquiry ..


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    #22
    Markcheese
    Registered Users Posts: 8,465 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    childsplay wrote: »
    I have heard nothing about this and I am guessing that quite a lot of other people are in the same boat. If the benefits were going to be felt here I might take a different view but as they are going to another country, I am completely opposed to this idea.

    You could take the view that if the power is being exported , it's more to Ireland's benefit than anyone else's ...

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



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    #23
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    It will be of benefit to the British.The local Land owner.The developer.The revenue .The co.co..The big big losers are the neighbours of these land owners


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    #24
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    In reply to the racist comment I think the contibuter is not really interested in discussing windmills.And should educate themselves on the meaning of the word racist


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    #25
    Outkast_IRE
    Registered Users Posts: 7,516 ✭✭✭Outkast_IRE


    paidinanthony wrote: »
    It will be of benefit to the British.The local Land owner.The developer.The revenue .The co.co..The big big losers are the neighbours of these land owners
    If its a large wind farm then some staff will be needed on site all the time.
    And the site preparation phase is huge really with these sites lot of people employed for the duration of the construction and preparation.

    I dont see how neighbouring the land would affect you, lots of people quite like the look of a wind farm.

    I dont see what the relavance of where the energy is goin is ? We now potentially with the interconnector buy energy off the british anyway dont we ?


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    #26
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    ifeelill wrote: »
    Why is that relevant are you a racist ?
    Outkast_IRE wrote: »
    If its a large wind farm then some staff will be needed on site all the time.
    And the site preparation phase is huge really with these sites lot of people employed for the duration of the construction and preparation.

    I dont see how neighbouring the land would affect you, lots of people quite like the look of a wind farm.

    I dont see what the relavance of where the energy is goin is ? We now potentially with the interconnector buy energy off the british anyway dont we ?
    The fact that I might have to live 500metres from a 200metre high construction.I think might be a little iritating ?The exporting comment means that it will not contribute anything to Irelands own renewable energy targets.


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    #27
    Outkast_IRE
    Registered Users Posts: 7,516 ✭✭✭Outkast_IRE


    paidinanthony wrote: »
    The fact that I might have to live 500metres from a 200metre high construction.I think might be a little iritating ?The exporting comment means that it will not contribute anything to Irelands own renewable energy targets.
    Irelands own renwable energy targets are fantasy land. There are currently as far as i know over 3000 applications for generation grid connections at the moment, a developer wont invest anything until he knows he can connect to the grid. These applications are taking a long long time to be looked at by eirgrid etc if they were quicker about it we might be nearer those targets.


    I will tell you now as a fact , they will not place a windturbine within wind turbine within 500 meters of your house . Its one of the first things planners look at in the application, they actually use very advanced software to pretty accurately predict the noise levels in the surrounding areas, these form part of the planning applications.

    Lastly if you were too near to such a large site, they would probably be calling around looking to buy you out.

    And the 200 meter height your saying ? tell me now is that your guess ?
    Or is it hub height ? or is it blade tip height ? If you have a link to this 200m height i would like a look at it myself just to read up on this project.

    Im currently studying wind energy as part of my degree and planning, wind farm turbine siteing etc is a big part of it, so any definite information from reliable source would be appreciated, have they actually lodged a planning application ?

    If your so concerned maybe think about visiting a wind farm as part of a dayout some time, you would be surprised how quiet they can be till you get close.


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    #28
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    I am not an expert on wind energy.I have attended two information meetings in the Bloom field house hotel organised by concerned people living around my area.
    Informed speakers at these meetings claim the blade tip at max is 195metres high in these proposed turbines.These will be the largest inland turbines in Ireland if the go ahead.As for buying me out.I quite like living where I am.I like looking out on unspoiled countryside.Really what you are saying that If you have enough money behind you you can build what you like and buy out people whose quality of life you might be affecting.
    I do not have a link for you to check this out.There is no planning application lodged yet.However there is efforts being made to sign up landowners who have suitable sites.You could attend the next information meeting held sometime in December by LakeLand wind energy information group.This will be advertised in advance.This will give you a chance to challenge or concur with the facts.


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    #29
    ted1
    Registered Users Posts: 23,524 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    paidinanthony wrote: »
    I am not an expert on wind energy.I have attended two information meetings in the Bloom field house hotel organised by concerned people living around my area.
    Informed speakers at these meetings claim the blade tip at max is 195metres high in these proposed turbines.These will be the largest inland turbines in Ireland if the go ahead.As for buying me out.I quite like living where I am.I like looking out on unspoiled countryside.Really what you are saying that If you have enough money behind you you can build what you like and buy out people whose quality of life you might be affecting.
    The two information meetings you attended were biased. And probably full of anti wind farm propaganda. You should educate yourself.


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    #30
    paidinanthony
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭paidinanthony


    ted1 wrote: »
    The two information meetings you attended were biased. And probably full of anti wind farm propaganda. You should educate yourself.
    Ted you are making two asumptions there


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    #31
    Outkast_IRE
    Registered Users Posts: 7,516 ✭✭✭Outkast_IRE


    paidinanthony wrote: »
    I am not an expert on wind energy.I have attended two information meetings in the Bloom field house hotel organised by concerned people living around my area.
    Informed speakers at these meetings claim the blade tip at max is 195metres high in these proposed turbines.These will be the largest inland turbines in Ireland if the go ahead.As for buying me out.I quite like living where I am.I like looking out on unspoiled countryside.Really what you are saying that If you have enough money behind you you can build what you like and buy out people whose quality of life you might be affecting.
    I do not have a link for you to check this out.There is no planning application lodged yet.However there is efforts being made to sign up landowners who have suitable sites.You could attend the next information meeting held sometime in December by LakeLand wind energy information group.This will be advertised in advance.This will give you a chance to challenge or concur with the facts.

    It will be very simple really, if your very near one of the turbines they will look to buy you out, if you dont move they will relook at the turbine positioning as , they are strict enough about noise levels from the wind farm at the nearest dwellings.
    Wait till the application is lodged before worrying , you could look at the application and the nearest turbine could be well away from your house.


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