Clare Wind Farm Gets Green Light

The green light has been given for a €200 million community owned wind farm in County Clare, the largest in Ireland. West Clare Renewable Energy Ltd. (WCRE) plans to construct 28 3MW wind turbines on the western slopes of Mount Callan, a 391-metre high mountain located between Ennis and Miltown Malbay. The company says the ambitious project will be capable of generating enough electricity to power every home and business in County Clare. The Scheme is also predicted to reduce CO2 emissions over its life time by a massive 4,400,000 tonnes of carbon and to provide up to 300 jobs during the construction phase.

Clare based entrepreneur Padraig Howard is one of the people behind the project (Mr. Howard is also a Founding member of another ambitious wind energy project Spirit of Ireland), noted that there is a potential 80,000 new jobs to be created in the green economy by 2020 according and that Clare has easily the potential to create 10,000 thousand of these jobs by 2020. What a fantastic prospect and a brilliant use of our natural resources! Well done to all concerned and to the Clare County Council for recognising the significance to approving planning permission for such an ambitious breakthrough project.