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Minister opens €18m Buncrana wind
farm
20.06.11
IRELAND'S renewable
energy target will be mostly met through wind
energy, according to Minister of State at the
Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht,
Dinny McGinley.
Mr McGinley was speaking at the official opening of
an €18m extension to a wind farm in Buncrana on
Friday.
The 10.2 megawatt extension has been built at
Energia's wind farm at Drumlough Hill, 7km north of
Buncrana on the Inishowen peninsula. The off-take
electricity from the wind farm is being sold to
business customers throughout Ireland.
“Ireland has one of the best wind resources in all
of Europe, as most of us will know from day to day
life. The bulk of our overall renewable energy
target will be met through wind," said Mr McGinley.
"We have made great strides in Ireland in the last
decade in increasing our use of renewable energy.
Companies such as Energia are playing an important
role in developing renewable energy projects that
contribute to our objectives on energy and climate
change." |
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Junior Minister, Dinny McGinley, far
right, pictured with, from left, Deputy Joe McHugh
and Energia chiefs, Tom Gillen and Peter Baillie, at
the opening of the €18 million extension to
Drumlough Hill wind farm, 7km north of Buncrana. |
Energia hosted two open
days at Drumlough Hill for the general public and
local schoolchildren last week to mark Global Wind
Energy Day. Events included tours of the wind farm
and hand-painting of turbines.
Energia has 28% market share of the Irish business
electricity and gas market, supplying more than
65,000 business customers. The company recently
signed a preliminary off-take agreement to purchase
the electricity generated from the pioneering Wave
Energy Converter being operated by US firm Ocean
Energy Systems off Belmullet, Co Mayo.
Energia Renewables managing director, Peter Baillie,
said the company had invested €200 million in the
last two years in over 100 megawatts of wholly-owned
wind farm developments.
"Additionally, we have supported third party wind
generator investments of €600 million in over 370
megawatts of wind farms throughout Ireland," said Mr
Baillie.
Ireland aims to source 40% of its energy from
renewable sources by 2020. |
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