Wind power meeting in Limavady next week

WIND energy company Simple Power is set to meet with members of Limavady Borough Council on Tuesday, August 21 to outline the importance of medium scale wind energy and to attempt to enlist the support of councillors in helping Northern Ireland reach future renewable energy targets.

The wind energy company, which was founded in Belfast in 2010, will present its medium wind strategy to the Council. Simple Powers work in partnership with landowners to develop single 250kW wind turbines that connect to the Northern Ireland grid. Single wind turbine projects are relatively quick to develop in comparison to traditional wind farms and benefit the rural economy by enabling farmers and landowners to participate in renewable generation.

Paul Carson, CEO of Simple Power, said: “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to present to Limavady Borough Council on Tuesday and to meet with Councillors who I understand are very interested in hearing about the role of wind energy in providing clean, safe and affordable energy for future generations.”

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Mr Carson will outline the importance of Council support in terms of the planning process: “We have a very supportive and in fact a “promotive” planning policy around Renewable Energy in Northern Ireland and local planning support is vital if Northern Ireland is going to reach its target of achieving 40 per cent renewable electricity generation by 2020.

“We hope our presentation will help the Council understand the need for positive local implementation of this policy which is driven by Environment Minister Alex Attwood alongside Energy Minister Arlene Foster.

“We are acutely aware of the landscape and environment in the Limavady area. It’s therefore very important that we ensure our individual turbines have the least possible visual impact and we carefully appraise every site taking this into account. The sitting of a wind turbine is constrained by many different environmental and technical issues but primarily, it should be erected on the most efficient site for wind resource. We also believe economic and environmental factors should be given significant weight by planners when considering applications.

“Even for the relatively straight-forward single, medium scale wind turbines which we develop, we find the planning process can sometimes be difficult. Action and speed is critical to meet our renewable targets, reduce our dependency on imported fossil fuels, to insulate our energy bills from the rising costs of fuel and to meet the electricity needs of our homes and businesses in the future.”

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Simple Power works in partnership with landowners to harvest wind power.

Earlier this month, Simple Power announced a partnership with Power NI, Northern Ireland’s biggest electricity retailer. The electricity company will purchase power generated by Simple Power’s single wind turbines across the region in a fifteen year contract, powering the equivalent of 50,000 homes with clean wind energy.