SSE Partners With Bord na Móna On 800MW Onshore Wind JV In Ireland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from SSE.
These four bullet points, act as sub-headings.
- Leading low-carbon energy companies SSE Renewables and Bord na Móna continue to progress their respective portfolios in Ireland, by partnering to develop new onshore wind energy projects across the Midlands.
- More than €1 billion could be invested by the joint venture partnership to develop up to 800MW of new renewable energy projects, enough to provide power to over 450,000 homes.
- Onshore wind farm projects to be developed as part of the portfolio will include Lemanaghan Wind Farm in north-west Offaly, Littleton Wind Farm in Tipperary, and Garryhinch Wind Farm on the Laois Offaly border.
- The partnership has the potential to support hundreds of jobs across the Midlands during construction and operation of the onshore wind projects.
Note.
- It is a 50:50 project between SSE Renewables and Bord na Móna.
- It will deliver 800 MW of onshore wind energy.
These link to the three web sites for the wind farms.
- Lemanaghan Wind Farm will be 80-100 MW
- Littleton Wind Farm will be 60-80 MW
- Garryhinch Wind Farm will be 60-80 MW
These must be the first phases, as they are nowhere near 800 MW.
There is an interesting comparison to be made here.
- As I said in Wind Farm: Yorkshire Moors Could Get England’s Biggest Wind Farm, it looks like a 304 MW wind farm on England will be controversial.
- The 539 MW Whitelee Wind Farm near Glasgow is the largest onshore wind farm in the UK.
- The republic of Ireland is building three schemes totalling 800 MW in the Irish Midlands.
So why does England object?
The Anonymous Widower 
Well the company may have formally suspended all peat harvesting in 2020, yet it will continue to produce peat briquettes until the end of this year, so it’s a bit rich to describe Bord na Mona (Board of the Peat, in English) as a leading low carbon energy company given its history. The destruction of peat bogs in Ireland by Bord na Mona as a result of an industrial level of cutting peat released stored carbon into the atmosphere in the form of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, and with it, the loss of biodiversity within the habitat.
Perhaps they should change its name to Bord na Gaoth.
Why are onshore wind farms tolerated in Ireland? Because the political weight of the rural opposition is not strong enough to compete with corporate interests and the State.
Comment by fammorris | April 2, 2024 |