Another 11 giant turbines planned for South Offaly

ANOTHER Wind Farm is being planned for the Birr area.
The company proposing to construct the turbines is RWE from Kilkenny City who are calling their project the Ballincor Wind Farm.
RWE says they began consultation on Ballincor in July 2023 when they delivered a brochure to homes about the proposed development including contact details. The day after the brochure was delivered, they began their door to door meetings.
Last week, Monday September 15, they conducted more door to door meetings in the area, “reaching out to the community to update them on our progress. When we reached out to the community initially, we were investigating the potential development of 12 turbines on the site. As the project has progressed, and after undertaking environmental and engineering studies, we are now looking at a proposed wind farm of 11 turbines, along with battery energy storage. Each turbine will be up to 180 metres in height, with a capacity of up to 7 Megawatts generating up to 77 Megawatts towards Ireland’s climate targets. We are still working through the EIAR (Environmental Impact Assessment Reports) and some tweaking might occur, but we believe that the proposed turbine locations will not change significantly between now and when we apply for planning permission.”
Apparently, RWE has met with a mixed reaction from locals on the doorsteps.
The Wind Farm will be located between Carrig and Sharavogue, a short distance south of Birr.
RWE says that it's part of the Irish Government's Climate Action Plan which sets out a roadmap for “taking decisive action to halve our country’s carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero carbon emissions no later than 2050. The science is indisputable and the effects of climate change are already clear.”
The Climate Action Plan 2023 (CAP23) is the second update to Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2019. RWE points out that in addition to the contribution of the proposals contained in CAP23 to reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, many of the changes that are required will have “positive economic and societal benefits, including cleaner air, warmer homes, and a more sustainable economy for the long term. To achieve these goals, we must harness our massive renewable natural resources. CAP23 provides us with greater energy security, stable prices, more jobs, and regional development, particularly for rural communities. Electricity will play an important role in the decarbonisation of other sectors through electrification, including transport, heating, and industry. Among the measures in the plan is to increase the proportion of renewable electricity to up to 80% by 2030. A target of 9 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy from onshore wind, 8 GW from solar, and at least 5 GW of offshore wind energy has been set to be achieved by 2030. To get us to 9GW of onshore wind we will need to double the installed capacity of onshore wind in the Republic of Ireland from over 4,400MW to 9,000MW.”
For more information see www.rwe.com/ireland

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