Windmills Of Your Mind

A marine energy student far, far away in Letterkenny is currently Greystones-bound, as part of a research project into off-shore wind energy.

And the lady is keen to talk to anyone who may be full of huff or puff about such wind-driven energy developments.

Over to Nuala…

I have chosen to focus on offshore wind energy and specifically to explore a mechanism to be used by government and industry to increase social acceptability, community benefit funds. Increased community engagement should go hand-in-hand with the implementation of community benefit funds (CBFs).

The Climate Action Plan, 2019, outlines the Government’s commitment of generating at least 3.5 GigaWatts (GWs) of offshore wind energy by 2030 and the recent Programme for Government increased that 2030 target to 5GWs. At least two of these offshore wind energy developments are believed to be located off the coast of County Wicklow.

The Wicklow coastline as we know it is therefore set to change in the not so distant future. As the offshore wind energy industry prepares to construct renewable energy generating stations off the coast, how do the coastal communities of County Wicklow feel about these developments?

One research project is particularly interested in coastal community opinions of the community benefit funds that will be paid out from each of these developments. Following the introduction of the Government’s Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) all renewable energy developments availing of this scheme will be required to pay €2 per MWh per annum in community benefit funds. For a 1GW offshore wind farm this payment could be quite substantial, potentially generating around €6 million per year for the region.

If you are interested in taking part in an online study (which takes approximately 30 minutes) exploring coastal community perspectives of offshore wind energy community benefit funds, please contact Nuala Carr directly by email on [email protected].