Posted on 04/27/2005 7:57:04 AM PDT by kellynla
The country's largest wind farm was officially opened today by renewable energy firm Airtricity.
The facility, which is based in Meentycat, Co Donegal. consists of five individual projects with 38 turbines connected by 22km of new roads.
It is almost 3 times bigger than the current largest wind farm , Airtricity's 25MW Kingsmountain facility in Sligo.
Meentycat will produce 72 MW of energy- enough to power the 44,000 homes in Donegal. The firm said the facility would help stabilise the voltage in Donegal, which is the weakest part of the Irish national grid.
Commenting at the opening today, Eddie O'Connor, stressed the importance of a strong grid infrastructure, "Today is a significant milestone for the wind industry in Ireland with the biggest chunk to date, 72 MW, coming on-stream.
"However, the lack of progress on the development and investment in a proper grid infrastructure is killing the industry."
O'Connor called on the government to produce a 20-year national energy plan that sets out coherent strategy for the appropriate mix of energy generation for the future.
"The Grid must evolve to accommodate wind immediately- talk of needing years to plan is not acceptable, said O'Connor.
He also said that if immediate action is not taken and the network is built and upgraded the company would consider building the infrastructure itself.
"We already build our own connections and substations and are in a consortium to build a UK interconnector", he said.
ping!
Indeed some of us are! Thanks!
--I'd like to see a financial analysis---
Wind farms would be cool if they weren't so damn ugly. We need invisible wind farms. That would get rid of those nuisance bird things too.
And what happens when there is no wind? Back to a weak grid?
Lets think of reason's environmentalists will be against this. Hmmmmm 1. They block the views our of their expensive picture windows. 2. Company is earning a profit. 3. Affects Seagul Migration
Leave it to the wackos they will come up with them..
Ping!
Maybe they would be less ugly if a turbine were to be built to look like an old-fashioned Middle Ages windmill, but a tad bigger.
Finance the wind mills with Social Security surplus and it's a win win win win ad infinitum and beyond!
I bookmarked the link. Thanks
I figured you'd be interested in this.
Believe me, Donegal is a very windy place - might even be economical!
Kinda puts the boots to the notion that wind power is eco-friendly.
I still like the idea. No source is going to be without some effect on the ecosystem. You have to build some kind of plant to generate the power. I also like the nuclear/desalination plant idea too.
Windmills are another target since birds would be dinged by the large rotor blades. However, the link I gave you plus other sources show the efficacious, efficent energy source that wind provides.
In a some locations wind can be useful but it's no panacea. Most wind farms only produce one-fifth of their rated capacity and the footprint is enormous.
Well I'm sure you guys know more about the technology better than I. I just posted the article thinking some FReepers might be interested in the alternative energy source that are available and being used.
We have enough of them in Mayo!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.