New drive to boost wind farms' output

New planning guidelines aimed at creating a five-fold increase in the State's output of wind energy are to be introduced by the Minister for the Environment.

Speaking at Carnsore Point, Co Wexford yesterday, Mr Cullen said the Government was intent on achieving a wind energy level of 13 per cent of total energy needs by 2010. The current level of energy supplied by wind farms is just over 2 per cent.

The Government is also examining ways of "net metering" - a process which allows small producers to be paid for energy supplied into the grid. Mr Cullen said he would be introducing new planning guidelines aimed at the early identification of suitable sites for wind turbines, which would be included in local authority development plans.

A draft of the proposed guidelines published yesterday makes the identification of such sites or areas part of a planning authority's statutory development plan. It is intended that this would help offset planning delays by bringing clarity and certainty to the planning process.

The Minister is particularly keen that sites would be well chosen to avoid scenes such as last October's landslide at Derrybrien, in south Galway, when a landslide rolled down some 1,500 metres through Coillte forestry in the Slieve Aughty mountains before stopping at an unoccupied house.

Mr Cullen also rejected suggestions that some sites might be unsuitable for wind farms due to their designation as heritage sites or specially protected areas for birds or wildlife. "There has been a perception that designating an area for natural heritage reasons or due to the presence of rare birds will prevent any wind farm developments proposals going ahead there.

"The guidelines show how these impacts can be mitigated by prospective applicants and planning authorities working together and agreeing on measures to avoid or minimise potential adverse effects. A carefully designed wind farm would not have those adverse effects.

"Under the proposals, planning authorities will be favourably disposed to granting planning permission in those areas subject to the siting and design criteria contained in agreed guidelines," he said. The draft guidelines will be circulated to the Commission for Electricity Generation, wind generation companies, the ESB National Grid and the ESB as well as the planning authorities and others for comment which may be made over the next eight weeks.

The Minister said the Republic had a "very challenging" national climate change target and the State must reduce dependency on oil to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Commission for Electricity Regulation said it had lifted its moratorium on the granting of licences to wind energy generators for connection to the national grid.

A spokeswoman for the ESB National Grid said the grid was now well capable of accepting 13 per cent of its electricity from wind power.

Yesterday's announcement by Mr Cullen was welcomed by the Green Party. The party's local government spokesman Mr Ciaran Cuffe said site selection would be crucial: "We need to strike the right balance between encouraging renewable energy and protecting scenic areas."

However the proposed guidelines were criticised by Friends of the Irish Environment whose spokesman said they were "a further attempt by the present Government to systematically undermine the little environmental protection there is in Ireland".