Midlands Windfarms protest march

[Rocker]

You may not have heard about it but the midlands of Ireland [Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, the western parts of Kildare & Meath] are under a serious threat of invasion. The invaders are giant wind turbines, about 2,200 of them, which are to be used to generate electrical power, all of which is to be exported to the UK. This outrageous plan, which has the full support of Minister Pat Rabbitte and the Government, is proposed by two private companies, Element Power and Mainstream Renewable Power.

Each Element Power turbine is 184 metres high and the Mainstream Renewable Power turbines are 157 metres high. To put some perspective on these heights, the Spire in Dublin is 121 metres high. Somebody said that if you put the London Eye on top of the Spire you would be close to the overall size of these monsters. The turbines will be grouped into wind farms with all the pylons and cables such developments bring. When Pat Rabbitte signed a memorandum of understanding with his UK counterpart, he described this project as a 'win/win' for Ireland. It is hard to understand what he was thinking of that day as the only winners are the two private companies and the land owners who will be paid for leasing the sites for the turbines. Ireland might gain some tax revenue in about ten years time and there will be rates for each site but that is about it. Eddie O'Connor, chief executive of Mainstream, describes opponents of the plan as 'nimbyists'. Nimbyism is alive and kicking in the UK, the people there said “no more wind farms on the UK mainland”. So they decided to locate them in Ireland! Technically it is known that wind turbines are more efficient when located offshore, but the offshore installation cost is higher.

# Jobs? Eddie O'Connor floated the idea of 40,000 jobs as a result of this development but the reality is 650 jobs at best with half of those in the UK. There will be some work during the construction phase, the concrete suppliers will be busy, but the installation contractors will be brought in from overseas and they will have their own specialist crews. There might be a few low grade security type jobs when the turbines are up and running.

Issues for people living in the midlands.

# Houses close to a windfarm will be devalued considerably, the consensus is between 50% and 80% of present day values, some may be unsaleable and thus are valueless. Midlands home owners in negative equity today face a bleak future.

# Shadow flicker. This is the cyclical shadow and light flash caused by the rotating blades of the turbine. The effect is similar to strobe lighting.

# Noise. The turbines generate audible and inaudible noise when they are operating. The audible noise is similar to the sound of an aeroplane passing overhead. Except that it is continuous as long as the wind blows. The inaudible noise is the most feared and dangerous. Frequencies of less than 20 Hz [cycles per second] are known as Infrasound. The rotating turbine blades generate a lot of infrasound. Infrasound affects people in different ways. It can interfere with sleep patterns, cause depression, dizzines, and trigger epilipsy and migraine for people living in the vicinity of a wind turbine. Infrasound travels a great distance and is actually louder in an enclosed space such as a house than it is outside that same house. It appears that well insulated houses contain greater amounts of infrasound too.

# Bird kill. It has been shown that each turbine kills 300 birds per year. Bats, which are a protected species, are killed too.

# Visual amenity. The installation of large wind turbines will change the midlands into an industrial wilderness. Drivers cannot but pass through several wind farms as they traverse the country. The tourism potential of the midlands will be seriously affected. We live here because there is nothing on the horizon – all that will change if this project goes ahead.

# Disruption during construction. There will be considerable disruption during the construction phase of this project. A lot of concrete is needed for each tower. Roads to turbines will be constructed, existing roundabouts will be taken down, cables criss crossing the country. Ect. Ect.

The people of the midlands are slowly waking up to what is planned for our countryside. A protest march, opposing this project, will take place next Friday, 21st June in Dublin. Starting at Christchurch at 10.30 a.m. the march will end at Dublin Castle. This protest march is timed to coincide with a meeting of the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources at Dublin Castle that day. Feel free to join us there. We regret if this march affects your travel or work but we have no choice but to make our voices heard. If you live in the midlands, please check for a Windfarm Information Group in your area. You need to inform yourself about the proposal to install these monsters in your area. Please take a few minutes to watch the YouTube video of the 'Today Tonight Wind Farms' and I ask you to sign the No Windfarm petition that is being circulated in the midlands. Google is the friend of the anti windfarm group and a source of information and inspiration for everyone, so use it. The proposal has been described as a 'done deal' and if we do nothing, it will be exactly that, so make your voices heard. Talk to your family and neighbours about this issue. Knowledge is the key so look it up.

The last thing I wanted to do is to be campaigning for the scrapping of this outrageous plan. I much prefer the quiet life [music, hi-fi and guitar excepted of course] but this quiet life will be a thing of the past if this proposal goes ahead.

Thanks to Fran for his kind permission to publish this notice on his website.

Further information on wind farms, their health issues etc. can be found by Googling the following:

Lakelands Windfarm Information Group: http://www.lwig.net
Today Tonight Wind Farms
Today Tonight Follow up Wind Farm Report
Infrasound
Wind Turbine Shadow Flicker
Youtube Transporting Wind Turbines
Outrage at plans for 2300 Wind Turbines
Element Power
Mainstream Renewable Power
Pat Rabbitte Wind Energy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/windpower
The U turn on wind turbines


The late John Healy wrote a book called 'Nobody shouted stop'. His book detailed the destruction of the traditional way of life in his home village in East Mayo. Exactly the same destruction of the midlands will take place if this project goes ahead.

STOP!

[jaybee]

To give the obverse view, I think wind farms look fantastic. And have driven through areas of spectacular natural beauty which have had vast windfarms planted in them (if planted is the right word!) and thought they were beautiful!

I have first hand experience of living within sight of a windfarm each turbine being 124M high, and have never experienced any lack of sleep or negative effects of infrasound.

We are beyond the 214m extent of the shadow which the blades cast in the afternoon so can't comment on flicker from the blades.

It would seem to me to make sense that we do something to offset our import of energy given our outdated power generation capacity, so I do agree that it should be directed toward an Irish concern to exploit our natural resources for the benefit of the country as a whole. Along the lines of Statoil model (the owners of which are laughing all the way to the bank, and at us for giving them our oil, while their own reserves pay for nice holidays every year!)

[Rocker]

To give the obverse view, I think wind farms look fantastic. And have driven through areas of spectacular natural beauty which have had vast wind farms planted in them (if planted is the right word!) and thought they were beautiful!

You are not alone Jaybee, there is one guy in the Heathfield housing estate in Kinnegad who agrees with you. But seriously, I am glad that you are not affected by Infrasound. That is the unpredictable nature of this low frequency sound, it affects some while others wonder what the fuss is about.

Infrasound is not something I welcome in the midlands. My family, my own and my neighbours health is too great a gamble to take just so that a few very wealthy individuals can make even more money by 'exploiting' the wind that blows across our land.

[Fran]

Like jaybee - I think that a windfarm in principle is a good idea - and hey its better than burning fossil fuels!

My big beef with this is that here we are, yet again, giving away this resource for feck all, just like the oil fields, just like the gas fields. I am quite convinced (should it go ahead) that in future years we will be bitterly complaining about how we gave this away and don't make a penny out of it, while the company makes billions. Worse than that, apart from a very small few maintenance jobs (most likely low grade as specialist crews will do nearly all the techy maintenance, and management will be remote) we see nothing as a country.

You will note that I haven't even mentioned the main concerns Rocker expressed as someone who will live close to one. Purely on a policy level I think this is nuts. Although we now might realise in these more enlightened times the damage Bord na Mona may have done to our bogs, at least they provided massive employment here, set an industry base where there was none, and the profits stayed (and continue) to stay here.

Fran

[jaybee]

[Adrian]

Indeed, if wind is a natural resource............ should it not incur royalties?

I don't believe in the nonsense of tens of thousands of jobs being created, in fact NONE of the components which make up a wind farm project will be manufactured in Ireland, apart from the cement perhaps.

Wikipedia has several examples of wind farms around the world, notably the USA, and it gives employment numbers and power output levels. Sufficient to say we are not looking at thousands of jobs, perhaps a few hundred people attending to many thousands of turbines.

However reduction of Co2 is vitally important if the planet population is going to survive. I seriously believe the climate is going to bury humanity if we don't change our present course.

Rocker makes a valid point, if housing is going to be affected by hundreds perhaps thousands of these units, then what will be the value of these houses? People seem to forget that Ireland is a small country.

There is also the quality of the electricity............. the more wind turbines which are connected to the grid... the quality of electricity becomes poorer. However this is not an issue for Ireland as the midlands wind project is for export, and will not be connected to the Irish grid ( I believe).

It's a tough one.... we are between a rock and a hard place. It will be interesting to see how events turn out, I would not be surprised if the Govt hide in the Dail and get the Gardai to steamroll over the local people.

[jkeny]

I totally agree with Fran but then I won't be living near one of these things. I object to it on the basis that given this & previous governments past records, it will be given away for next to nothing, no doubt tied up in indefinite contracts that can't be broken without massive penalties. How much more of this gombeenism do we have to take from our so-called politicians?

I don't know about the technical & health issues of the turbines but the claim surprised me that it would degrade the electricity supply? Don't know how this could be?

[jaybee]

I totally agree with Fran but then I won't be living near one of these things. I object to it on the basis that given this & previous governments past records, it will be given away for next to nothing, no doubt tied up in indefinite contracts that can't be broken without massive penalties. How much more of this gombeenism do we have to take from our so-called politicians?

I don't know about the technical & health issues of the turbines but the claim surprised me that it would degrade the electricity supply? Don't know how this could be?

they are using Monster cabling, sure everyone knows you need at least Nordost or Cardas for quality connection to the grid

[Rocker]

I think that a windfarm in principle is a good idea - and hey its better than burning fossil fuels!

We all agree that renewable is the way to provide our energy into the future. Wind is a renewable source but it is unreliable and intermittent so constant backup generation is needed [from fossil fuels]. Wind farms would make a valuable contribution but not in inhabited areas. It is unacceptable to have clusters of wind farms close to peoples houses.

[Fran]

jaybee - I had to stop watching that video - I was about to throw the laptop out the window in frustration,