Ireland’s wind industry facing difficulties

By 2020 Ireland has to cut carbon emissions by 20% and increase renewable energy to 16%.

To meet the targets, between 300 and 400 MW need to be connected to the grid annually, however last year only 58 MW of wind energy was added reports the Sunday business Post.

Dr Michael Walsh, chief executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), said costs, planning permissions, price per kilowatt and securing finance and consent from landowners for overhead lines are some of the biggest issues facing potential developers in the wind energy market.

Mr Walsh told the newspaper: “The cost of wind turbines alone has increased by around 60 per cent in the last three years.

“They now cost around Euro 1.3 million per mw but when you factor in the associated construction costs of building a wind farm, they could be rounded up to an average of Euro 2 million each.”

Last month, Mr Walsh said at the launch of the IWEAs guidelines on best practise for on-shore wind projects that the wind industry in Ireland needed to invest Euro 6 billion over the next decade to meet its targets for 2020.