A WIND farm which will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 100,000 people was formally switched on yesterday by the Minister of State responsible for energy, Mr Emmet Stagg.
The £15 million project, at Barnesmore Gap in Co Donegal, is the first wind farm to be built as a result of a competition for renewable energy initiatives introduced in March 1995.
Other similar projects arising from the competition will start production later this year.
Opening the farm, the Minister said it was an example of what could be done with good planning and construction to help satisfy the "voracious appetite for energy" attending economic growth.
There would come a time when "we simply must do something about the carbon-based nature of the economy," he said, and the Barnes more project, which will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 15,000 tonnes per annum, was a step in the right direction.
While In Donegal, Mr Stagg also officially opened the State's largest independently owned hydro-electricity station at Anarget.
The 2.1-megawatt station, developed by Irish companies Energy Control Systems and Saporito, will generate power for 2,500 homes.
The project is grant-aided by the EU's Thermie programme, as is a planned wind energy facility ear-marked for the same site.
Mr Stagg noted the station was the first to avail of guaranteed access to the electricity market for Thermie projects. He congratulated the developers and said Donegal was becoming "the renewable energy centre of Ireland."
