Six new offshore wind farms move closer to reality but residents concerned for coastal environment
https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2024/09/16/six-new-offshore-wind-farms-move-closer-to-reality-but-residents-concerned-for-coastal-environment/
Posted by MaelduinTamhlacht
10 Comments
Paywalled:
When details of a large wind farm planned for off the coast of counties Dublin, [Meath](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/meath/) and [Louth](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/louth/) began to emerge, Teddy Otto, who is living “right on the beach” in Skerries, said to himself: “Sure, it will be grand.“I would describe myself as green in spirit. I fully accept [global warming](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/climate-change/) is happening. In principle, I’m in favour of [wind energy](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://www.irishtimes.com/tags/wind-energy/),” says Otto.He eventually concluded the scale of the [North Irish Sea Array ](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://northirishseaarray.ie/)(NISA) was inappropriate given its location – a consequence of an “imposed designation 25 years ago” without proper prior environmental evaluation. “It’s not a sensitive way of doing it. It ticks the sustainability box but not on wildlife and proximity to the coastline.”
…Costed at more than €1 billion, NISA will potentially power 500,000 Irish homes, delivering 700 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy. It will displace approximately half a million tonnes of CO2 annually, say its developers – Norwegian company [Statkraft](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://statkraft.ie/) and [Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners](https://archive.fo/o/noqMl/https://cipartners.dk/). They are promising a community fund of €4 million annually over its lifetime.Their planning application presents two options; one for 35 turbines with a maximum tip height of 316 metres, the other for 49 turbines with a maximum tip height of 290 metres; the nearest being 13km offshore.
Residents don’t give a shit about the marine environment.
They’re concerned with their own views and performed a hasty web search on which marine life to pretend to be concerned about.
We should be a world leader in wind energy to the point we’re a major exporter.
It’s mad to think a few generations from now people will probably be astounded how when we had billions in surplus budget we didn’t do it because of aesthetics.
Mad how you can lodge a complaint about offshore projects
““It’s not a sensitive way of doing it. It ticks the sustainability box but not on wildlife and proximity to the coastline.”.”
NIMBY translation: what if I want to look over there and there’s one of them obstructing my right to look over there, I was here first.
Ask them to name five species of fish that inhabit their coastal environment.
I object
It really is the year of the concerned locals.
We need to invest in wind and water, I’m not saying people should stop getting solar but, tax money needs to be invested in what we have an abundance of, solar while an amazing technology seems like less of a good choice in Ireland to me. But this NIMBY shit has to stop, its infuriating to see this every, single, time there is a new plan for windfarms.
We still don’t even have a possible location for where we can build, assemble, store and load wind turbines on to ships for the trip out. So far Belfast is the only viable option and that’s too far away. So according to a marine contractor I spoke to recently, construction is still a minimum of 10 years away!!