AIP is working across Ireland to develop wind farms, generate clean renewable energy and provide long-term additional incomes for farm families
Wind energy: a proven technology
AIP is working across Ireland to build a portfolio of wind farm projects that will meet Ireland’s increasing demands for clean, renewable energy. Wind energy has been the renewable technology of choice in Ireland for nearly 20 years. Our excellent wind speeds make the country an ideal location for harnessing that potential energy. There are already over 350 wind farms on the island of Ireland, generating over 5,000MW.
Every AIP wind farm project will contribute to delivering the extra 4,000MW of wind energy required by the Government’s Climate Action Plan by 2030, aimed at decarbonising the Irish economy and tackling climate change.
Projects co-designed with landowners
AIP is adopting a new approach to designing wind farms in Ireland. We recognise the intrinsic bond between farmers and their land and the responsibility to act as custodians for the next generation. With this in mind we will work with the landowners to not only design a wind farm that integrates into their existing farming practice but will form a vital additional income stream for this and the next generation. Once we identify an optimum site for a wind farm, AIP partners with landowners who are happy to accommodate the project on their lands to progress the project. Landowners know their land better than anyone and we value their input from the earliest stages. Our staff and agents meet landowners to outline the potential of their land, invite their lands to be made available, explain the project development process and take feedback from the landowners.
Long term, additional farm income
Wind energy has become an important additional income stream for many Irish farm families, allowing them to diversify their farm businesses. It also offers a long-term, guaranteed income stream, allowing farmers to work less in their later years but still enjoy the same or a higher level of income they had been used to, or set something aside for future generations. The additional income from an AIP wind farm project gives farmers and landowners an opportunity to better utilise their land and farm another type of produce, wind energy! Given the size of the footprint of the turbine, it is possible to design the layout of the wind farm such that it doesn’t negatively impact existing agricultural operations. Managed correctly the wind farms can be seamlessly integrated into the existing farming practice.
Our partner landonwers
AIP seeks to involve as many landowners as possible in our projects to secure broad local support and spread the benefits of the wind farm. Even if a landowners’ land is not suitable for locating a wind turbine, it can be important for road access to get the turbines into the site or the wires to get the electricity out.
AIP prides itself on its approach of working with its partner landowners to co-design the best wind farm project on each site. While it will be in everyone’s interest to maximise the wind energy potential of a site, individual landowners’ requirements and preferences are always paramount in our design approach. We keep our partner landowners involved at every stage of the design process, walking the land with them whenever necessary before picking the preferred locations and routes for the different parts of the wind farm.
Landowner support
Developing a wind farm can take many years from site identification until the project is built and generating electricity, during this time AIP uses expert consultants to identify optimum wind farm sites, carry out all the environmental surveys and assessments required and eventually secure planning permission We support landowners every step of the way and engage with local neighbours and communities when the details of a project begin to firm up.
What makes up a wind farm?
A wind farm has a number of important parts, all of which are needed to make the project work. They include:
Wind turbines
Wind turbines harness the wind to convert its potential energy
into electricity. Typically, the larger the turbines, the more energy they can
produce. Turbines have increased in size over the years as technology and
engineering has evolved, and the average turbine being applied for in the Irish
countryside in recent years has been between 160 and 200 metres in height.
Access roads
Access roads are vital to transport the turbine parts and other equipment to the site. Existing farm tracks are often upgraded or new roads built where necessary. Once the wind farm is built, farmers have the use of these roads for their own farming needs.
Underground cables
Underground cables connect each turbine back to the wind farm’s
electricity substation, and are usually run alongside the internal access
roads. All cables are safely buried at a depth that will not interfere with farming operations.
Electricity subststion
The electricity substation is where all the cables electricity generated by each wind turbine are run back to and the electricity transformed to a higher voltage before being transmitted off-site and on to the national electricity grid.
Battery storage
Battery storage units allow excess wind energy generated by the wind farm to be stored when it might not be needed by the national grid. It can then be released later when it is needed. Battery storage units are like shipping containers, with all the battery and electrical parts safely secured inside the container.
Wind measurement mast
A wind measurement mast is used to measure wind speeds on site and compare those speeds to other wind speeds across the country to predict how much electricity the wind farm will produce based on the weather forecast for days ahead.
What are the steps in developing a wind farm?
A wind farm usually takes a number of years to develop from when the optimum site is first identified, through to when the wind farm begins operating. These are the main steps in the process:
1. Site identification
Site identification is the process we go through to find optimum sites for wind farms. Many different factors go into deciding which sites can potentially make a good wind farm site. Wind farms need a lot of land, and the land that is most suitable has to be far enough away from houses, roads, archaeological sites and nature protection areas. The optimum sites must also be close enough to a part of the national electricity grid that has the capacity to take the electricity that the wind farm generates.
2. Land agreements
Land agreements are the option and lease contracts we enter into with landowners who want to partner with AIP to make their land available for a wind farm. After we explain how and why we have identified their lands as having potential, we spend time getting to know the owners of the land and their neighbours and give everyone a chance to ask whatever questions they might have. AIP encourage every landowner to seek independent legal advice and make a contribution towards the cost of this.
3. Environmental surveys
Environmental surveys take place over a two-year period, before submitting a planning permission application. Bird surveys are usually the first to start, usually in March or October, which become key milestones for progressing a project. Other ecological, archaeological, hydrological, noise and other surveys take place later along with other types of assessments required to prepare an environmental report that is submitted along with the planning application. Typically, the surveys inform the locations of the turbines and it is not possible to understand where and how many turbines are planned until the surveys are completed.
4. Community consultation
Community consultation is a very important stage as it allows us share with the local community, details of where the proposed project will be located and what it might consist of. We try to engage with the local community at the earliest opportunity, but only when we know a sufficient amount ourselves about the proposed project to make that engagement and consultation meaningful and worthwhile.
5. Planning
Planning is the process where we submit a formal planning permission application for the proposed wind farm. It gives every member of the public an opportunity to formally comment on the project before the local Planning Authority or An Bord Pleanála finally make a decision on whether the project should proceed or not.
6. Grid connection
A grid connection is vital to export electricity from a wind farm to the national grid, and an application to connect to the grid and eventually export electricity can only be applied for after planning permission has been granted. Grid connections will be allocated at regular intervals over the coming years, and once our application is successful, AIP would have the right to “plug in” our project to the national grid and begin to export power.
7. Community gain
Community gain is the way the benefits of the project get divided amongst near neighbours and the local community and usually starts before construction starts, and continues throughout the life of the wind farm. AIP is committed to tailoring its community gain schemes to each individual community and recognises that no two communities are the same. We believe the best community gain schemes are those that the local community themselves help design and we try to involve the community in this through the pre-construction stages of every project.
8. Construction
Construction usually takes about 12 months after a route to market for the electricity has been secured. With our construction and development partners, it is AIP policy to use as much local labour, machinery and local contractors in the construction of its projects, whenever possible. Although all wind turbines are imported into Ireland, most of the construction is now carried out by Irish workers and many Irish firms have come to specialise in wind farm construction.
9. Operation
A wind farm comes into operations when it has been built and fully commissioned and is exporting clean, green electricity to the national grid. Wind farms are now being designed to last for 25-30 years with advances in technology and engineering.