Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice has said it is “criminal” that the 70-turbine Derrybrien wind farm in Galway sits idle during the energy crisis after being decommissioned earlier this year.
The comments were made last week in a Facebook video posted by the Galway Roscommon TD.
“This site was creating enough electricity to power 50,000 homes until an EU ruling stopped the turbines from spinning,” he wrote.
“In the middle of a global energy crisis, this makes less than no sense.”
That TD said that he was “no lover of wind turbines,” but that they had been functioning and providing power to the area for almost 20 years.
“I have my views on wind farms, I’ve made that very clear. But when something is up and running, and Ireland is at a pinch, you’ve got to use whatever resources you have.”
He continued: “It is criminal that they would be rendered useless by Europe at a time when Ireland faces into a winter of potential rolling blackouts,” adding that it was “bureaucracy and madness” to keep the site closed.
The decision to decommission the farm was made in March of this year by the ESB.
The turbines were originally built in 2003, without an Environmental Impact Assessment, as Irish planning law did not require it. As a result, while excavating the site, a large landslide occurred, resulting in 450,000 tonnes of peat being disturbed. This in turn caused about 50,000 fish to die in nearby water sources according to Inland Fisheries Ireland.
As a result, Ireland was penalised financially by the EU, amassing a total of €17 million worth of fines to date over ongoing failures to ensure European environmental standards on the windfarm.
However, according to the local council, dismantling the site could lead to further landslides.
“Galway County Council call on the government to direct the ESB to recommence operation of the Derrybrien wind farm and in doing so, provide whatever legislative requirements that are necessary to ensure it may not be legally contested,” they wrote in a statement earlier this year.
“I am receiving numerous calls from constituents who are seeking that the wind turbines in Derrybrien are be turned back on given the energy crisis worldwide,” said local independent councillor Geraldine Donohue, as reported by the Connacht Tribune.