LISDOWNEY WIND FARM

Lisdowney Wind Farm in North Kilkenny was founded in 2006 by civil engineer James Carville and local farmers Thomas McEvoy and Matthew Bergin, who wanted to secure their families’ future and leave a legacy to be proud of.

LEADER financed a wind feasibility study on the proposed site. At the end of the 2-year study, the information was correlated to produce a wind energy yield assessment of the site. Thanks to the LEADER funding, it yielded a report that had a 99% reliability factor on the information gathered. James says “The robustness of this report allowed us to prepare a business plan, which will assist us in securing financing for the project and selecting the right turbine technology. When we processed the wind data gathered on site over 2 years, it identified we had selected the wrong turbine and the layout on which we received planning was not optimising the site.”

Based on the results from the energy assessment funded by LEADER, they submitted a revised planning application to optimise the site to its full potential.

Since making the decision to develop a wind farm, James, Tom and Matt have gone through all of the required steps including getting the site zoned in the County Development Plan: securing planning permission to erect 4 turbines, securing a Gate 3 connection offer to export their generated electricity onto the grid, and securing a second planning permission to increase the height of their wind turbines from 99.5m to 121.5m.

This is the only planned wind farm in North Kilkenny and will create up to 30 jobs during construction. It will generate renewable energy for 5,700 houses and will reduce 23,000 tonnes of CO2, 122 tonnes of SOX and 91 tonnes of NOX being emitted into the atmosphere.

James, Tom and Matt have personally financed this project since 2006. They plan to have the project constructed and energised by October 2015. Electricity produced will reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by 23,000 tonnes each year, the equivalent of removing 6,000 cars from Ireland’s roads annually.

James says “We are very proud of the progress we have made to date. For three chaps who knew nothing about wind farm development in 2006, we have succeeded in every challenge to date. Our dream is to develop a successful business, for our project to be part of the community through engagement with the three local schools & GAA clubs, and most of all to supply renewable green energy to local industry. The way we see this project is the community helping the community.