300 jobs predicted at Mount Callan wind farm

A wind energy development co-operative in West Clare has received planning permission from Clare County Council to construct the largest community-owned wind farm development in Ireland.
It is predicted that 300 jobs will be created during the construction stage of the project, which incorporates the company and 30 local farm families. Developers have said that the local community will be afforded first preference regarding construction work and full-time employment once the wind farm is up and running.
West Clare Renewable Energy Ltd. (WCRE) plans to construct 28 3MW wind turbines on the western slopes of Mount Callan, a 391-metre high mountain, located between Ennis and Miltown Malbay.
The company says the that the €200 million project will be capable of generating enough electricity to power every home and business in Clare, as well as meeting the Limerick – Clare Energy Agency’s 2010 targets for emissions reductions and renewable energy production. The scheme is predicted to reduce carbon emissions over its lifetime by 4,400,000 tonnes.
WCRE is comprised of renewable energy firm West Clare Renewables and 30 farm families who collectively own 3,000 acres of primarily upland properties on Mount Callan. The landowners have a majority shareholding in the company.
Earlier this summer a number of local residents expressed concern in relation to the proposed development and asked that turbines be located two kilometres from nearby houses.
“More than 40 local families have been lobbying local TDs and councillors, as well as Clare County Council, to try to get the message across that wind turbines should not be placed within two kilometres of a house, in line with international best practice. None of the families are against wind turbines per se, but feel that placing them within two kilometres of houses results in a range of serious effects from noise, flicker and loss of amenity, as well as totally devaluing properties,” residents spokesperson Sally Ann Marron told The Clare Champion last July. 
“Given the amount of one off housing in the area, if you were to impose a two kilometres separation distance, you would wipe out every wind farm in the country,” WCRE chairman, Padraig Howard replied at the time.
“Mount Callan offered the perfect combination of wind resource, transmission lines and available land for wind farms,” Padraig Howard said this week.
“Mount Callan has long been associated with energy production and for decades supplied turf to power stations in the region. In more recent times large-scale commercial forestry had become the energy crop of choice on the mountain. Other counties such as Kerry, Cork and Donegal are racing ahead and Clare has significant ground to make up if we are to at least maintain our currently position as an energy producer for the region and the country,” he added.
Local landowner John Talty predicted the wind farm project would ensure the economic sustainability of the local community and wider economy for the next 30 years.
“We would like to build on this decision to attract spin off investment into towns such as Miltown Malbay, Ennistymon, Kilrush and Ennis. The greening and decarbonisation of Clare’s economy is crucially important for sustainable economic recovery. The jobs boost is desperately needed with over 10,000 people on the live register in Clare  and emigration once again becoming a preferred option of the youth of the county,” he said.
He stressed that members of the local community would be afforded first preference regarding construction work and fulltime employment once the wind farm is up and running.
Fellow Mount Callan landowner, Fred Tottenham, whose family have farmed on Mount Callan since the 1830s, also offered support for the development.
“In the 1960’s my father, Robert, started to plant trees on the mountain after he realised that West Clare had some of the best soil for forestry in Ireland. He was always interested in harnessing the wind to produce energy and we are delighted that Mount Callan will soon offer a new source of income to the local community. This is a real and viable way to address rural depopulation and sustain the livelihoods of current and future generations residents in the area,” he stated.