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Oriel Windfarm questions
Wind farms in Ireland
The mechanics of Wind Turbines
Wind energy and environmental impact
Oriel windfarm questions
What height will the turbines be?
Offshore wind turbines are generally bigger than onshore turbines to take advantage of the steadier offshore winds and economies of scale. The turbine at DKIT has a capacity to produce 0.75MW of electricity, Oriel are proposing to install turbines that will have a capacity to produce 6MW of electricity each. These turbines will be 100m high with 60m blades. The turbine at DKIT is 60m high with 26m blades.
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Will the wind farm have any effect on local house prices?
There is no evidence anywhere to suggest that an offshore windfarm has any impact on property prices.
A Survey on the Irish National Attitude to Wind Farms carried out by Sustainable Energy Ireland found that:
- 88% of people that have seen a wind farm are favourably disposed to development of additional wind farms
- 74% of people that can see a wind farm from their home feel it has a positive effect on the local area
- At planning stage 44% of people felt that a local wind farm was controversial. The level of concern dropped to 19% once the wind farm had been constructed
- 90% disagree that local wind farm in their area has harmed local tourism
- 79% disagree that local wind farm has damaged scenic beauty of their locality
Many rural areas have noted increases in tourism after windfarms have been installed, as have scenic areas in Denmark, the world’s leader in percentage of national electricity supplied by wind. According to a poll carried out by MORI Scotland nine out of ten tourists visiting some of Scotland’s top beauty spots say the presence of windfarms makes no difference to the enjoyment of their holiday, and twice as many people would return to an area because of the presence of a windfarm than would stay away.
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What other countries around the world have offshore wind farms?
There are 27 offshore windfarms in operation Worldwide, mainly in NW Europe and a further 86 offshore windfarms in various stages of the planning process. These windfarms are located in areas ranging from 300m to approx 20km offshore depending on water depths. They include operational windfarms at: Scorby Sands 2km offshore from Norfolk in the UK, Blyth 1km offshore near Newcastle UK, and the Frederikshaven windfarm 500m off the coast of Denmark.
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Do wind farms perform to the capacities expected?
Recent independent studies, carried out on behalf of the Department of Trade and Infrastructure in the UK, recommend locating wind turbines offshore where load capacities are reaching their design figures of 37% to 40%.
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Do wind farms get subsidies from the government?
There are no subsidies or tax breaks of any kind available to offshore wind farm developers. In 2002 the Government abolished the only tax scheme supporting wind farms.
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How were people in the area informed about the planned wind farm?
The public consultation activities carried out by Oriel included: contacting over 300 public and private groups including meeting many of them, opening a public information centre at DKIT in October, developing this website and publishing details of it in local papers, organising a public forum in Blackrock and regular progress updates were reported to local media outlets. Oriel Windfarm’s practice is to operate in a spirit of openness in terms of public consultation.
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How far will the wind farm be from land?
The closest turbine to land will be 5.5km or 3.5 miles from Cooley Point, 10.5km or 6.5 miles from Dunany Point and 17.8km or 11 miles from Blackrock. The turbines will only occupy a small part of the horizon and not cover the entire bay. As they are far offshore they will be hard to see and will look small on the horizon and will only be seen on clear days. Photomontages (digital mock ups) of what the wind farm will look like from various locations along the coast are available for viewing at the Oriel Windfarm public office at DKIT, information about visiting this office is included in the contact us page of this website
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How much power will the wind farm produce?
Subject to lease consent being obtained, the exact type of turbine which will be used for the proposed Oriel Windfarm off Clogherhead has not yet been determined, at present it is anticipated that each turbine will be capable of producing in the region of 5 to 6MW of power each. When the 55 turbines are completed the wind farm will be capable of supplying the national grid with up to 330MW of electricity. This is equivalent to the electricity used to power 200,000 homes.
An average household uses about 10,655 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. One megawatt of wind energy can generate from 2.4 million to more than 3 million kWh annually. Therefore, a megawatt of wind generates about as much electricity as 225 to 300 households use. It is important to note that since the wind does not blow all of the time, it cannot be the only power source for that many households without some form of storage system. The "number of homes served" is just a convenient way to translate a quantity of electricity into a familiar term that people can understand. (Typically, storage is not needed, because wind generators are only part of the power plants on a grid system, and other fuel sources are used when the wind is not blowing.
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How will the turbines be laid out? How far apart will they be?
The Turbines will be laid out in a diamond shaped pattern, with the turbines positioned in parallel lines as this is the most visually unobtrusive layout of an offshore wind farm when viewed from shore. The proposal for the location of the turbines can be seen on the maps included with this website. They are to be located in the North Western sector of the Foreshore Licence area. There will be a distance of 625 x 900m between each turbine. This should allow ample room for manoeuvring vessels within the wind farm. Geophysical work will be carried out on all turbine locations, Bathymetry, Sediment Type and sub-Bottom structure.
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How will the turbines be connected to the grid?
The turbines will be connected to the grid via a subsea cable buried at a minimum of 2m below the seabed, and will land at a site to be chosen following further environmental, geotechnical and grid connection studies. The cable will run 2m underground on land to an existing substation in the area and connect to the national grid.
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What is the planning process?
A comprehensive licensing process is in place governing the assessment procedures and studies required prior to construction. All licence applications to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources will be open for public review, as part of the planning process a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment will be conducted in accordance with Irish and European legal standards, as outlined below.
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What is an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)?
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is currently being under taken by a Galway based company Aqua-fact International Services Ltd.
The EIA will be conducted in accordance with EU guidelines, and will include the following sections:
SECTION 1: Description of the proposed project
This will describe the physical characteristics of the project including turbine design, foundation type, turbine layout and grid connection infrastructure. This section will also contain information on the development, operation and decommissioning processes.
SECTION 2: Description of the existing environment
Studies have been undertaken by Aqua-fact International Services to establish the current environmental conditions including detailed flora and fauna assessments to develop an overview of the current ecosystem. The bathymetric, geophysical and geological conditions in the area have been assessed by IMAR Survey Ltd. Further surveys are ongoing in the area to verify the suitability of the site from an engineering point of view.
SECTION 3: The Potential Impacts of the Proposed Development
The impact of the proposed development will also be described in the EIA according to EU guidelines.
The Impacts will be assessed using expert consultants, literature reviews, environmental surveys and experience from previous wind-farm EIA studies.
A comprehensive list of local and national individuals and organisations were also consulted regarding this proposed wind farm.
Geological & Oceanological conditions and landfall options are currently being studied and further marine studies will be undertaken during late September 2006.
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Wind farms in Ireland
Where does Ireland currently get its fuel for electricity production?
At present, most of Ireland’s energy is derived from burning fossil fuels, either directly in the home or indirectly in power stations. About 98% of Ireland’s final energy demand is produced by burning coal, oil, peat and natural gas. There is a limited resource of these fossil fuels, and they cannot be replenished once their supplies have been exhausted. They are also subject to price fluctuations. It is the consumption of these non-renewable fuels that leads to the emission of greenhouse gases and pollutants into the atmosphere. The emission of these gases and pollutants is increasing global warming and ultimately causing climate change.
Ireland is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, which requires reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases by specific amounts over a period from 2008 to 2012 and beyond. The EU Emissions Trading Directive (Directive 2003/87/EC) is being implemented as a pilot project, to help to achieve this target. The National Climate Change Strategy outlines Ireland’s commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions to 13% above 1990 levels by 2008-2012. A failure to meet this target will result in stiff fines from the EU for a breach of targets.
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What is the current sate of wind power in Ireland?
Over the past ten years wind power generation in the republic of Ireland has increased from two wind farms producing 20 MW (1 megawatt = 1,000 kilowatts) to 49 wind farms producing 493MW as at the end of December 2005. This provides enough green electricity to supply almost 350,000 homes. Whilst wind farms to date have mainly been developed in the windiest areas of the western seaboard counties (the first commercial wind farm in Ireland was at Ballacorrick, Co. Mayo in 1992), an increasing number of projects are appearing in all regions of Ireland, including an offshore wind farm on the Arklow bank of the coast of Wicklow.
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Does the government support wind energy in Ireland?
The government supports the development of all renewable based electricity generating plants including wind turbine generators. They currently achieve this mainly through the administration of competitions under the Alternative Energy Requirement (AER) programme, which gives wind energy companies a guaranteed market to sell power. Prospective generators are invited to make a formal application to build, own and operate new wind farms and to supply electricity from these to the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of up to fifteen years duration.
Since the programme was launched in 1995, six AER competitions have been held. The sixth competition AER VI was lunched in February 2003 and offered support for the first time to offshore wind energy.
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What is the current status of wind energy worldwide?
By 2002 Europe was the world leader in wind power, responsible for three quarters of the world’s production of wind generated electricity; 15% coming from the United States and 10% from the rest of the world, notably India, Japan, China and Canada. The European leaders are Germany - which owns half of the continents installed power, followed by Spain and Denmark. Today, nearly all European countries have programmes for wind energy development and turbine installation. Europe is leading the world into the age of wind energy, spurred in part by concerns about global warming. The record heat wave in Europe in August 2003 that scorched crops and claimed 35,000 lives has accelerated the replacement of climate-disrupting coal with clean energy sources.
The European Wind Energy Association projects that Europe's wind-based electricity-generating capacity will nearly triple from 2003 to 2010. By 2020, wind-generated electricity is projected to satisfy the residential needs of 195 million Europeans—half of the region's population.
After developing most of its existing 28,400 megawatts of capacity on land, Europe is now tapping offshore wind resources as well. A 2004 assessment of Europe's offshore wind-energy potential concluded that if Europe moves more aggressively to develop its vast offshore resources, wind could be supplying all of the region's residential electricity by 2020.
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What is the European policy on renewable energy?
The increased penetration of renewable energy sources to supply our energy requirements is a priority at both national and European level. The Green Paper on Sustainable Energy sets the following targets in Ireland:
- The RES-E Directive of the European parliament and Council (Directive 2001/77/EC) sets a target for Republic of Ireland of 13.2% of total electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2010. Recently the minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr. Noel Dempsey, announced an increased target of 15%. Wind power generation is expected to be the major contributor to meeting the renewable energy targets. The 15% target can be achieved with approximately 1,300 MW of wind power generation installed by 2010.
The National Climate Change Strategy outlines the strategy to meet Irelands commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions to a 13% increase over 1990 levels by 2008 - 2012. Some of the key points relating to renewable energy in the strategy include:
- The reduction of annual CO2 emissions by 1 million tonnes by 2010 through increased deployment of renewable energy. The Oriel Windfarm off Clougherhead will remove in the region of 350,000 tonnes of CO2 annually when fully completed.
- A review of the rate and structure of Energy Taxes;
- Fuel switching from coal to renewable energy.
The National Development Plan allocated a total investment of €76 million for renewable energy in the period 2000—2006. the main investment areas targeted:
- Re-inforcement and upgrading of the electricity grid to accommodate increased use of renewable energy;
- Supporting delivery of additional renewable energy supply (including the AER programme);
- Encourage new entrants to the renewable energy market by support for small scale projects.
The Electricity Act 1999 sets out the following measures:
- Full deregulation of the market for electricity generated using renewable forms of energy as its primary source;
- Priority dispatch of electiricty generated from renewable energy sources;
- Establishment of the commission of Electricity Regulation with a duty to encourage research and development into methods of generating using remewable, sustainable and alternative forms of energy.
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What is the Kyoto protocol?
The Kyoto protocol is an international treaty which indirectly contains Ireland’s commitment to limit greenhouse gas emissions to a 13% increase over 1990 levels by 2008—2012 and which calls for research and development in the areas of renewable energy. Furthermore, the EU target of 22% of electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010, underpinned by the EC directive 2001/1771/EC on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources, requires Ireland to generate a minimum of 13% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010.
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Mechanics of Wind Turbines
How does a wind turbine produce electricity?
In a coal-fired power station, chemical energy stored in coal is converted first to heat energy by burning and then into kinetic energy (energy of motion) by heating water to produce steam. A high pressure jet of steam is used to turn a turbine (mechanical energy), which is then used to turn a dynamo generator to produce electrical energy. In generating electricity from wind, the chemical and heat energy steps are not needed: the kinetic energy of the wind turns the turbine (or blades), which then turns a generator to produce electricity.
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What is a wind turbine made of?
The towers are mostly tubular and made of steel, generally painted light grey. Some towers are made of concrete. The blades are made of glass-fibre reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy. They are light grey because this is the colour which is most inconspicuous under most lighting conditions. The finish is matt, to reduce reflected light.
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How fast do the blades turn?
The blades rotate at anything between 15-50 revolutions per minute at constant speed. However, an increasing number of machines operate at variable speed.
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How long do wind turbines last?
A wind turbine typically lasts around 20-25 years. During this time, as with a car, some parts may need replacing.
The very first of the mass-produced turbines celebrated its 20th birthday in May 2000. The Vestas 30kW machine has operated steadily throughout its lifetime and, so far, none of the major components have had to be replaced.
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How strong does the wind have to be for turbines to work?
Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of 3 to 5 metres per second (around 10 miles an hour) and reach maximum power output at around 15 metres/second (around 33 miles per hour). At very high wind speeds, i.e. gale force winds, (25 metres/second, 50+ miles/hour) wind turbines shut down.
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What happens when the wind is not blowing?
Through the connection to the National Grid, there will not be power outages as when output from wind is low other generator capacity will compensate. Equally, when the wind speed is high, the output from the wind farm will allow other generators’ output to be lower.
Wind turbines have been continuously developed in order to improve reliability. It is now possible to expect that offshore wind turbines will operate for over 90% of the time that they are designed to be operating. Wind turbines need to be turning to generate electricity, and wind turbines require the wind to be blowing for them to turn. Normally there is sufficient wind to turn the turbines, and the turbines will typically generate their maximum output at a wind speed of about 30mph.On average and at a typical offshore location, wind turbines will produce about 40% of the total energy that they could produce compared to if the turbines were operating continuously.
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How much of the time do wind turbines produce electricity?
A modern wind turbine produces electricity 70-85% of the time, but it generates different outputs dependent on wind speed. Over the course of a year, it will generate about 40% of the theoretical maximum output. This is known as its load factor. The load factor of conventional power stations is on average 50%.
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How efficient are wind turbines?
The theoretical maximum energy that a wind turbine can extract from the wind impinging upon it is around 60%. However the meaning of efficiency is different with wind energy, where the fuel is free. The primary concern is not the efficiency for its own sake, but to improve productivity in order to bring down the price of wind energy.
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Wind energy and environmental impact
Are the wind turbines going to be noisy?
Wind turbines are not noisy. The evolution of wind farm technology over the past decade has rendered mechanical noise from turbines almost undetectable with the main sound being the aerodynamic swoosh of the blades passing the tower. There are strict guidelines on wind turbines and noise emissions to ensure the protection of residential amenity. It is possible to stand underneath a turbine and hold a conversation without having to raise your voice. As wind speed rises, the noise of the wind masks the noise made by wind turbines.
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Will the wind farm affect fishing?
Offshore wind farms foundations in the North Sea are covered with marine growth that attracts fish. No significant impacts are expected on fishing due to the spacing of the wind turbines, 6 to 9 football fields apart, buried electric cables that won’t interfere with fishing gear, and the relatively shallow depths where the wind turbines would be located that already preclude certain types of commercial fishing.
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Will they affect marine life?
Studies on existing projects have shown that some foundations can act as artificial reefs with a resultant increase in fish populations from the new food supply.
Studies of offshore wind farms in Europe have not found any adverse impacts to marine mammals. Care is taken during the construction phase of a wind farm to ensure that there are no marine mammals present in the immediate vicinity during construction activities. Perhaps the biggest threat facing marine mammals generally is a steep decline in ocean plankton populations that are the base of the food chain that marine mammals depend upon. This plankton decline is a result of global warming brought on by fossil fueled greenhouse gas emissions that wind farms can help reduce.
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Will they affect birds?
Studies of birds and offshore wind farms in Germany and Denmark have found that there are very few bird collisions. Most birds have been observed by cameras and by radar to fly around the wind farms, and those birds flying through the wind farms have been observed flying through the open corridors between turbine rows. Several offshore wind sites have been in areas heavily used by seabirds. Improvements in wind turbine design, including a much slower rate of rotation of the blades and a smooth tower base instead of perchable lattice towers, have helped reduce bird mortality at wind farms around the world.
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What if there's a storm at sea?
The turbines will be warranted and tested to withstand extreme wind conditions and in the event of severe weather, the blades turn out of the wind and will shut down for safety reasons when wind speeds become gale strength at around 55 miles per hour and above.
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Are there any environmental benefits of offshore turbines?
Every unit of electricity generated from the wind, whether on land or at sea, saves a unit generated from coal, oil or gas - depending on what type of power plant it replaces. Therefore each unit of electricity generated by wind energy saves emissions of greenhouses gases, pollutants and waste products.
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When will they be built?
Subject to planning consent, construction of the initial phase of the project consisting of 11 turbines could begin in 2008, with the wind farm being completed in 5 phases of 11 turbines each to a total of 55 turbines.
What other countries have wind farms at sea?
There are 27 offshore wind farms in operation worldwide.
- 5 currently operational in the UK
- 19 in the North Sea & Baltic Sea Area off Germany, Denmark,
Sweden, Netherlands
- 1 in Ireland
- 1 off Bilbao Spain
- 1 in Japan
4 wind farms are expected to become operational in 2007, 1 each in the UK, Sweden, Netherlands & Germany. There are a further 86 wind farms currently at various stages of the planning process worldwide.
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What are the local benefits of an offshore wind farm?
DKIT is designated as a national centre for the development of renewable energy. The development of an offshore wind farm will enhance Dundalk’s position as a national centre of excellence for wind energy.
Oriel Windfarm is a local company headquartered in Dundalk that is bringing the best national and international wind farm expertise and technology to Dundalk.
Oriel is already creating employment in the area. There would be significant employment generated during the construction phase and thereafter long term jobs would also be created.
A local source of environmentally friendly electricity generation will be in place that will make Ireland less dependent on imported energy sources.
The development will have minimal impact on the environment compared to conventional power stations. The air will not be affected and Dundalk will be a contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.
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