Cluddaun wind farm planning blown away

Cluddaun wind farm planning blown away


Ciara Galvin

PLANS to construct a 48 turbine wind farm in Moygownagh have been denied by An Bord Pleanala.
Planning was refused for the Cluddaun Wind Farm which was applied for by the ESB and Bord na Mona for a number of reasons including the site’s isolation from the public road.
A planning decision on the 112 turbines for the Oweninny Wind Farm on an adjoining site has been delayed until September.
An Bord PleanΡla has requested further information from the developer regarding a revised Environmental Impact Assessment showing how the wind farm would be connected to the National Grid. It also wants to know what the voltage of the cable transmitting the power would be and whether it would run underground or overground.
ESB and Bord Na Móna have until late September to respond to the requests.
In relation to the Cluddaun Wind Farm, the board decided the proposed development could impact on a number of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and refusal was also based on the scale of the development.
The An Bord PleanΡla ruling said it was not satisfied that the area was suitable for such a wind farm development, even though it had been identified for this use by Mayo County Council.
The Moy Valley Protection Group which is against the GridWest proposal to install 400kv lines from Moygownagh, to Flagfort, Roscommon, has welcomed the decision by An Bord Pleanala.
A statement from the group said as a result of the refusal, the group feels that the GridWest project should now be cancelled ‘given that it was to be built to exclusively carry the power produced by the 48 Turbine Cluddaun and 112 Turbine Oweninny Wind Farms’.
The Moy Valley Protection Group said it ‘condemns the wasting of public money by Coillte and the Government in attempting to build a wind farm in an unsuitable area of ‘outstanding beauty against the wishes of the local community and without any consideration of their well being’.