Plans for a major wind energy project in the Arklow Basin have been well received, but a much smaller proposal in scenic east Cork has provoked a lot of local concern. Eco Energy, a consortium including business and farming interests in the area, has applied to Cork County Council for permission to erect two 300 ft wind turbines on the coastal road overlooking Ballybrannigan and Ballycroneen strands.
Only when the required local notices were posted did locals realise the extent of what was being planned. The Ballycroneen Coastal Alliance was formed and has demanded the withdrawal of the planning application. There seems little likelihood of that happening, but according to the alliance, local people will never countenance two giant turbines which they claim would spoil the nature of the environment and dominate the landscape. The only ones to gain from the project would be the developers, the alliance says; the community would gain nothing except visual blight.
The turbines, say the developers, would not interfere with the scenic beauty of the area or be visible from the beaches and would pose no health problems.
According to the alliance, the developers consulted the people only as a last resort when the extent of the opposition had become apparent. The alliance claims that in the Cork County Development Plan the coastal road where the wind turbines would be sited is designated as a scenic area, and therefore the project would run contrary to the spirit of the plan. However, according to Eco Energy, the county council has earmarked several sites in the county which would be suitable for wind energy projects, and the Ballybrannigan/Ballycroneen area is one of them.
There are also concerns about low frequency sound emissions from the turbines and about the "flicker" effect which would be a traffic hazard, according to Mr Peadar Hegarty, spokesman for the group.
"This industrial-style development is proposing structures 300 ft tall and 200 ft in diameter at their maximum height. This would make them twice the size of the county hall in Cork, in the heart of a beautiful, highly populated piece of countryside. This development will be within 15 miles of Cork Airport and on the direct flight path. Problems with air traffic in the UK and Europe are now well documented. This industrial-style development is not about the environment. If it were, the developers would be applying their resources to sorting out problems such as waste disposal, protection of wildlife and pollution.
"There is no community benefit in this development, rather is there substantial income and capital gain for the developers. These turbines are active 30 per cent of the time. They will affect the area 100 per cent. We encourage the saving and conservation of energy as a far more practical and community-based initiative to cutting down our dependence on fossil fuels. We support the appropriate development of wind energy, meaning it must not be to the detriment of the areas chosen and, most importantly, must be more than 1 km from the closest consenting dwellings so as to control the very definite health hazards," Mr Hegarty said. He said the local primary school, which has 44 pupils, was only 800 metres from the site while nine homes were within 500 metres of it.
Mr Nicholas Flynn, a spokesman for the developers, claimed that not everyone in the locality was opposed to the plans and many people were in favour of them. The €3.5 million scheme, he said, would provide enough electricity for 2,000 homes and its output would be sold directly to the national grid.