An area so windy that the old West Clare Railway train blew over a number of times has been turned down by An Bord Pleanála as a site for a wind farm.
The planning board has cited the visual impact of a wind turbine measuring between 46 metres and 74 metres high as a reason why the application to build the wind farm near Miltown Malbay should be rejected.
The board was upholding a decision by Clare County Council to refuse permission for the development at Annagh outside Miltown Malbay.
The site was originally cited by National Windpower, a Limerick-based company, as ideal.
Mr David Fitzgerald, a company director, stated the area was so windy the train on the former West Clare Railway had been blown off its tracks on several occasions.
He added that the highest recorded gust of wind in the State in the 20th century was recorded at Annagh which had a history of wind generated electricity.
"The Department of the Environment needs to immediately amend the guidelines," he said.
"They are out of date and Bord Pleanála's hymn sheet is out of print."
The planning board stated the development would be visually intrusive in the flat and open rural landscape of the area which had amenity and tourism significance. The single-turbine station at a former wind farm site would be visible from Quilty, Spanish Point and Miltown Malbay.
The board added that the proposed turbine would "interfere with and endanger the safety of aircraft and the safe and efficient navigation thereof to and from Spanish Point Aerodrome".
The original wind farm, run by the ESB in the 1980s, had turbines measuring 17.6 metres.
It is the second application by the company in the area which has been turned down by the planning board.
That followed last September's decision to overturn the council's permission for a £7 million development on a former landfill site outside Ennistymon.
The company has amended its application and re-applied to the board.