Project Description

Windfarm Location

Curraheen Windfarm consists of 8 turbines, centred in the townland of Curraheen near the village of Ahenny, South County Tipperary. It is served by the R698 to the northeast, R697 to the southeast and N76 to the west. The village of Ninemilehouse is 5.5 km from the centre of the Curraheen/Ahenny site to the northwest and Carrick-on-Suir is 10 km to the south of the proposed development. The predominant land use within the study area is agriculture, i.e. improved grasslands for dairy farming. The landscape type is classified as hilly to flat farmland and varies from 150 – 260 m OD and the average wind speed at the site is approximately 8-8.5m/s. The location of the proposed windfarm is shown below.

Capacity

The total capacity for 8 turbines will be approximately 16 MW – 20 MW. The output from 8 turbines will have the capacity to power approximately 10,400 – 13,000 ¹ homes per annum.

For details of the location map view the 2465 300 EIS Figure 1.1.pdf

All 8 turbines under consideration for this project will have a three bladed rotor. The rotor is linked to the main shaft, which drives the gearbox and generator. Each turbine is linked by under ground cables to a metering point where electricity is exported to the National Grid.

The distribution of the Turbines within the site is shown on the Layout Plan.

For details of the layout plan view the 2465 300 EIS Figure 2.1.pdf

Type of Turbine

It is not commercially feasible to select a particular turbine for the proposed windfarm at this stage of the project. This is due to the length of time that will elapse between preparing the planning application and ordering the turbines from a manufacturer. Therefore, the approach adopted in preparing the planning application and this EIS is to consider a group of feasible turbines as possible options for the proposed windfarm. The overall worst case impacts from this group of potential turbines are considered in this EIS. In this way, the Planning Authority can be assured that the as-built windfarm will have environmental impacts that are equal or less significant to those presented in the EIS.

Specifications for proposed wind turbines at Curraheen:

• Rated generator power between 2.0MW and 2.5MW per wind turbine;
• Rotor diameter 71m to 82.4m;
• Hub height 78m to 86m; and
• Wind turbines are normally grey or off-white in colour.

The total capacity for 8 turbines will be 16MW to 20MW, depending on the model of turbine selected. An application has been made to the ESB to connect to the National Grid. It is proposed to connect the wind farm to the national grid at the existing substation at Doon, or alternatively in Carrick-on-Suir.  The output from 8 turbines will have the capacity to power approximately 10,400 to 13,000 homes per annum.

Other Elements

There will also be construction roads and an electricity substation located on the site.

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¹ Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) www.sei.ie states that – 1MW of wind energy powers 650 homes reduces CO 2 by 2700t, SO 2 by 49t and NO x by 5.5t.