'Green' energy boost in Northern Ireland

Renewable energy in Northern Ireland has received a double boost from announcements by two leading players in the wind energy sector. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), which owns Airtricity, used the Irish Wind Energy Association’s autumn conference in Kerry to announce its purchase of the Altahullion 3 wind-farm project in County Londonderry from RES UK & Ireland Ltd.

At the same time, Irish renewable-energy development and energy storage group Gaelectric confirmed it had secured planning approval for two on-shore wind-energy projects (at Smulgedon, north east of Dungiven and at Monnaboy on Loughtermore Mountain). The SSE project, to be called Glenconway 2, will be a 12-turbine 27.6MW extension to the 18MW Glenconway wind farm, currently under construction. It will form part of SSE’s wider Slieve Kirk wind-farm cluster in Londonderry.

Meanwhile, businessman Donald Trump has launched another attack on plans for a wind farm off the coast of his Aberdeenshire golf course. The £230 million project is a joint venture by Vattenfall, Technip and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.

Several organisations, such as Scottish Natural Heritage and RSPB Scotland, have dropped their opposition. Mr Trump said: “Their name should be changed to RSKB — the Royal Society for the Killing of Birds — to reflect their pro-wind-turbine position.” He claims that the turbines would spoil the sea views for golfers on his course at Menie.