Ireland electricity grid accepts 72 MW of wind energy

Ireland upped the renewable energy ante by opening its 72 MW wind energy development at Meentycat, in Donegal County. Airtricity, which also owns Ireland's second largest wind development of 25MW at the Kingsmountain facility in Sligo, said that the Meentycat project should provide enough electricity to power 44,000 homes in the area. It will also help to stabilize the voltage in Donegal, which is the weakest part of the Irish national grid. The project is comprised of 38 Siemens turbines that are split into 23 turbines rated at 2.3 MW installed capacity and 15 turbines rated at 1.3 MW. Airtricity officials used the project's commissioning celebration to call for a 20-year national energy plan that would include infrastructure upgrades to the power grid in Ireland.