A public meeting on the proposed offshore windfarm at Sceirde Rocks will be held in Cashel Community Centre on tonight Thursday at 8pm.
The meeting is being organised by Conamara Coastal Protection (CCP ), a community group based in Carna, which advocates for the protection of Conamara’s coastal habitats, biodiversity, and heritage sites.
This public meeting is an opportunity for interested members of the public to discuss the proposed Sceirde Rocks Offshore Wind Farm planning application - the biggest infrastructure project ever proposed for Connemara - and be informed on how the public can participate in the planning process.
There is an opportunity for public participation in the planning process - which is the opportunity to make a submission.
The submission deadline for this planning application is March 24, 2025 and CCP wants to ensure that interested members of the public are aware of their opportunity to participate in the planning process and of the publicly available information that can be accessed to help inform their decisions.
Sceirde Rocks, known as Carraigeacha Sceirde in Irish, is the proposed location for one of the first large-scale offshore windfarms to be built in Ireland.
The goal is to provide a clean, secure energy source that will help Ireland generate 80% of its electricity from renewables by 2030.
The proposed windfarm will have a capacity of 450 MW. It will consist of 30 turbines, with a maximum tip-height of 325m.
Once constructed, it is projected that the windfarm will provide enough clean energy to power over 350,000 homes, avoiding CO2 emissions equivalent to removing 180,000 petrol cars?from Ireland’s roads.
Backers also say that it will stimulate investment in the local economy, including a proposed Community Benefit Fund worth around €3.5m per year, every year, over a 20-year period (a total investment of approximately €70m ).
If the project receives consent, they expect to build the windfarm from 2026-2029 and to be fully operational by 2030.
