Galway wind farms will pay just under €5 million in rates to Galway County Council this year, enough to nearly cover the council’s entire contribution towards the operation and maintenance of water supply works across the county.
This is according to rates data compiled by Halpin’s on behalf of Wind Energy Ireland (WEI ), which found that wind farms will contribute nearly 11.5% of all commercial rates paid in Co Galway in 2026.
Commercial rates are a local property tax charged by county councils and city councils on commercial and industrial properties. They help fund local services such as roads, fire services, public lighting, parks, planning, libraries and town development.
Nationally, wind farms will provide almost €75 million in commercial rates to county councils across Ireland and in nine counties payments from wind farms will make up more than 10 per cent of their entire commercial rates income.
David Halpin, whose company Halpin’s compiled the data for Wind Energy Ireland, said the contribution of the wind sector to local councils cannot be understated.
“Outside of major urban areas, wind projects are often the largest single contributors to their county,” he added.”Wind farms also support local projects and community groups via their community benefit funds. In 2024, the last full year reported, Galway wind farms contributed over €1,119,451 to various projects in their locality.”
Beyond contributing to a significant portion of local authority budgets and community benefit funds, wind farms are also supporting Irish electricity consumers. Research published last year by Baringa demonstrates that since 2000, renewable electricity has – conservatively – saved consumers nearly €1 billion in their electricity bills.
Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, said every wind turbine generating electricity helps reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels while bringing investment and long-term economic benefits to local communities.
“Irish made energy also helps insulate businesses from global economic shocks, inflation and secures existing jobs. Here in Galway, wind energy will provide 11.5 per cent of all commercial rates paid in 2026. That means the council’s entire contribution to water supply works could be backed by wind. This shows the real benefits that renewable energy is bringing to rural Ireland and to counties like Galway.”
In April, when wind energy made up almost 40 per cent of the country’s electricity supply, the wholesale electricity price on the windiest day was almost half the price on the days when we were forced to rely on imported fossil fuels.
Mr Cunniffe added that a report from the ESRI in April confirmed that Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe.
“But it also made clear the reason for this is our continued dependency on imported gas. Countries which, since the previous fossil fuel crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have moved to renewables the fastest have seen their prices fall the most.
“The best way to bring bills down is to generate more affordable, clean energy here at home from renewable sources like wind and solar, while making sure counties like Galway continue to benefit from the investment and economic activity that renewable energy projects bring.”
“Galway currently has the capacity to generate 458 MW of wind energy, representing 7.14 per cent of Ireland’s total wind generation capacity,” he concluded.
