Ireland urged to invest in wind energy

The head of a wind energy lobby group has said that the industry in Ireland needs to invest Euro 6bn over the next decade to meet government targets.


Ireland has a target of generating 33% of its renewable energy from wind power in 2020.

Michael Walsh, chief executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), said: “With over 1,000 megawatts of wind power already connected on the island of Ireland, the wind energy has already invested over Euro 1bn in generation capacity.”

He explained that the wind-power industry is planning to invest up to Euro 6bn in wind power over the next ten years.

Mr Walsh was speaking at the launch of the IWEAs guidelines on best practice for on-shore wind projects in Ireland.

In March, Ireland hosted the Energy Forum 2008, where both industry and government outlined their plans to spend Euro 200m on energy-related research and development of environmental opportunities.

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