Ardnacrusha farmers unite for €12m windfarm

A group of about 20 farmers in Ardnacrusha are considering establishing a new co-operative to facilitate the development of a windfarm costing an estimated €12 million.

Farmers have held discussions with a windfarm operator about the proposed development that would contain between 10 and 12 turbines on an elevated hill between Glenagross and Ardnacrusha village.
They were concerned with the omission of Strategic Areas and Acceptable in Principle zoning for their land in the Draft Wind Energy Strategy concerning Natural Heritage Area (NHA) to preserve the integrity of these Natura 2000 sites.
However, county councillors voted at a recent council meeting to revert to the original designations, making the Ardnacrusha plan potentially viable.
A meeting of landowners was called over a year ago to discuss the proposal.
Landowner Joe O’Connell recalled that all the farmers voiced an interest in getting involved with no opposition expressed at the meeting. In addition to supplementing farmers’ income, Mr O’Connell hoped the development, subject to planning approval, would create jobs in construction and indirectly for concrete plants and local quarries.
“Landowners are open-minded. We are not tying ourselves down to any particular contract until we see the terms on offer.
“No final plan has been agreed yet and a lot of the finer detail has to be discussed. An Environmental Impact Statement may have to be completed as part of the project.
“No IFA representative has been involved in negotiations on our behalf yet, but we will use the IFA if necessary.
“The area involves a vast area of land and there are no houses within the ­required exclusion distance from turbines. The turbines could be spread over the land to keep them as far away from houses as possible. The plan is still at an early stage and no study for noise or shadow flicker has been undertaken yet,” he said.
One of the unresolved issues is connection to the national grid. If a group of farmers want to come together to provide land for a windfarm, Mr O’Connell believes they should be facilitated by the ESB.
He pointed out that a farmer only received about €35 for having an ESB pole on his land.
“A farmer has to play ball with the ESB when it comes to providing land for ESB poles, the ESB should now play ball with farmers in terms of national grid connection. An new plan for a windfarm will have to be put before a meeting of farmers in the area and subject to their approval, we will proceed with the development,” he said.