ESB delays decision on wind farm plans

July 1999

A decision on whether to allow the ESB to build a controversial windfarm at Carnesore Point has been delayed until the middle of September, say protesting residents who have vowed to fight the project ‘ tooth and nail’.

Chairman of the Concerned Residents Group, Owen Mullins, says that if the ESB gave careful consideration to all the factors at Carnesore, they would be compelled to withdraw their application.

The ESB has applied to Wexford County Council for planning permission for 14 wind generators, roads, a control building, and switchyard at Carnesore Point.

Mr Mullins says that following a meeting with Energy Minister Joe Jacob, the minister had said that the issue was one of planning, and not political.

‘We will be advising him that we feel differently and that the public have a right to be concerned when the ESB are about to commit £30 million of our money on a project that isn’t even financially viable,’ he added.

County Engineer Phil Callery said local councillors had been to see a windfarm in Donegal, and were now in a much better position to make a decision.

‘ The County Manager is anxious to see a decision made, and one will be made by September 16,’ said Mr. Callery.

In a letter to County Secretary John Pierce, the ESB says the high wind speeds recorded at Carnesore Point make it ‘uniquely attractive in Co. Wexford in the production of wind energy’.

‘ The area is not an area of natural wilderness – it has long been farmed for tillage and grazing, and these activities will not be affected by the proposed development,’ said the ESB.

It says a distance of 500 metres has been proposed as a conservative guide line to eliminate ‘significant impacts to residences’.

‘Wind turbines are located much closer to houses in other countries, without giving rise to any problems,’ they say.

Mr Mullins says in response that the ESB has done little to address them seriously.

Countering the ESB’s assertion that homes in the locality were visited prior to the application being submitted, the residents group has challenged it to name the people who were visited and to say what information was provided.

‘It was no more than a letter being pushed through the letterbox of a few local residents,’ says the group in a letter to the county planning department, containing the names and signatures of 60 people who live near the proposed site and who are opposed to it.

‘ There are numerous locations around the country that have better wind sources and are more distant from people’s houses…nowhere in Ireland are there wind turbines so close to houses,’ they say.

They further maintain that the proposal would contravene intended retention of a designated scenic area.