Meenadreen wind farm is a 95 MW development currently being constructed at a location between Donegal town and Glenties in south Donegal and will be the largest wind farm in Ireland when completed. Energia Renewables runs several Community Funds in Ireland based geographically around their wind farms. The longest running is Crighshane and Church Hill wind farm in County Tyrone which is visible from the Meenadreen site.
This interim scheme is the first that Energia Renewables has run during the construction phase of a wind farm and will fund a wide variety of programmes. Projects that have been funded include completion of a public amenity site on the Clogher River, upgrading of stage and hall lighting with energy efficient LED lighting and development of a play area to provide an education resource and natural recreation area.
The community groups set to benefit from the initial round of funding are Leghowney Drama Club, Clogher Le Cheile amenity site, Saint Francis’ National School, Barnesmore, Leghowney and Townawilly community alert programme and Leghowney Hall.
The fund is run by the Community Foundation Ireland (CFI) which is an independent grant-making organisation. It uses the monies from their own permanent endowment and that of donors and philanthropists to distribute grants to various causes and groups right across the country. CFI handle the administration of receiving grant applications, carrying out due diligence on the charities, preparing a portfolio of options to fund and measuring the impact of the donations.
“All of the projects that are being funded benefit the local community” said Peter Bailie, Managing Director, Energia Renewables. “We estimate that taken together the projects will benefit over 1,500 residents. Many of the projects also involve improved energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption. We receive a lot of support from local communities when we are developing these facilities and we’re very grateful for this. The development of our new wind farms is a very positive step forward for renewable energy in Ireland and this is something that is very important to us. All of our wind farm developments bring significant benefits to the local economies, including job creation, increased demand for construction suppliers, improvements to local infrastructure such as roads.”
Mr Bailie added that Energia has a long-standing commitment to sustainability and is one of the leading providers of renewable energy to homes and businesses across Ireland, currently supplying over 795 MW of green power. This will shortly increase to 1,000 MW due to a number of wind farms currently in development.
Energia has a 23 percent market share of the Irish business electricity and gas market supplying the energy needs of over 60,000 business customers and operates from offices in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Belfast and Omagh.
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