Environmental protection
FuturEnergy Ireland and Ørsted take pride in our leadership position among wind farm developers in Ireland. We work hard to ensure that we are best in class and that our developments reflect this. Environmental protection including preservation of biodiversity is at the core of our sustainable business practices from commercial forestry through to wind farm development. We ensure that our projects conform to or exceed all statutory requirements and best practice guidelines in relation to environmental protection.
Environmental Studies
Wind farm planning applications must include an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR). The aim of the report is to present a detailed study of how the proposed Ballinagree Wind Farm project may impact on the local area across a series of topics such as; biodiversity, landscape, water, population and human health. Each topic forms a standalone chapter in the EIAR.
An established protocol exists for developing an EIAR, beginning with collecting baseline data across the proposed development area. Once a final layout is confirmed, the potential impact of each turbine and the full wind farm is defined. This is reviewed across each topic of the EIAR and appropriate decisions are made surrounding amendments to design or mitigating strategies where required.
These impacts and strategies form the EIAR which is submitted to the relevant planning authority. The relevant planning authority often attaches planning conditions based on the information set out in the EIAR.
The proposed Ballinagree Wind Farm EIAR will cover a number of topics, including:
• Population and Human Health
• Biodiversity
• Land
• Soil
• Water
• Air
• Climate
• Material Assets
• Cultural Heritage
• Landscape