Windfarm plans in Ireland given the thumbs down

It’s the case of hands across the mountainside in celebration this week as neighbouring communities in Waterford and Tipperary who flank the Knockmealdown mountain range are hailing what they perceive to be a “famous victory’’. Plans by a North Cork based company, D. P. Energy Ltd., to develop a wind energy farm on the picturesque mountainside have been given the thumbs down by An Bord Pleanála, and the communities who fought a vigorous campaign against the project now believe it has finally been consigned to the pages of history. Four times previously D. P. Energy Ltd. had applied to Waterford County Council for planning permission to construct the windfarm on the mountain range in the townlands of Knocknalougha and Knockaveelish close to the west Waterford village of Ballysaggart. On each occasion the application ended up in the lap of An Bord Pleanala for a final adjudication, and to the consternation of the company it lost out every time.

D. P. Energy Ltd. had originally intended to develop a windfarm comprising thirteen turbines that would have had towers of almost fifty metres in height with rotor diameters of more than sixty metres. Additionally they planned to provide ancillary equipment including a substation and monitoring mast. Opposition to the development immediately came from both the Waterford and Tipperary sides of the mountain range. The Clonmel based Peaks Mountaineering Club joined with the Knockmealdown Protection Committee to initiate a vigorous and very united campaign against it. However the Buttevant based company seemed to have finally made the breakthrough when Waterford County Council gave a modified proposal, including a reduction in the number of turbines from thirteen to seven, the planning “all clear’’.

But this latest decision of the national planning appeals board to overrule the local authority is a major setback for the company and could well represent a fatal blow to their plans for the project. In giving its decision, Bord Pleanala has stated that the development would seriously injure the scenic and visual amenities of the area, would seriously detract from its distinct qualities, and would set an undesirable precedent for further developments in the upland areas of the mountain range.