As of 2011, the Republic of Ireland has an installed wind power capacity of 1,428 megawatts.^[1] It is more than three times the total of 495.2 megawatts in 2005. In 2008 alone, the rate of growth was 54.6%, amongst the highest in the world.^[2] On November 2nd 2011, the output from the country's turbines peaked at 6pm, reaching 1,412 megawatts.^[3]

The Arklow Bank Wind Park, located 10 km off the coast of Arklow on the Arklow Bank in the Irish Sea, was Ireland's first offshore wind farm. The National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW Ireland) announced in April 2010 that 60,000 potential jobs could be created in the Irish marine, construction, engineering and service industries through the development of offshore wind energy in Irish and European waters.

In the Directive^[4] 2001/77/EC, otherwise known as the RES-E Directive, the European Union stated a goal to have 22% of the total energy consumed by member states to be produced from renewable energy resources by 2010. As a result, Ireland, in a report titled "Policy Consideration for Renewable Electricity to 2010", made the commitment to have 4% of its total energy consumption come from renewable energy resources by 2002 and 13.2% by 2010. The Department of Communications Marine and Natural Resources (DCMNR) founded the Renewable Energy Group (REG) which established the short term analysis group (STAG) to investigate a means of accomplishing this goal. To meet the 2010 target of 13.2%, 1,432 MW of electricity will need to be generated from renewable resources with 1,100 MW being generated from wind resources both onshore and offshore.

The Arklow Bank Wind Park, located 10 km off the coast of Arklow on the Arklow Bank in the Irish Sea, was Ireland's first offshore wind farm. The wind farm is owned and built by GE Energy and was co-developed by Airtricity and GE Energy. The site has 7 GE Energy 3.6 MW turbines that generate a total of 25 MW. The development of the site was originally divided into two phases with the first phase being the current installation of 7 turbines. The second phase was a partnership between Airtricity and Acciona Energy. Acciona Energy had an option to buy the project after the facility is completed. The wind farm was planned to expand to 520 MW of power. However, in 2007, Phase 2 was cancelled.^[5]

Although the waters off the Atlantic coastline of Ireland are a better site for wind farms because of the available wind resources, sites along the eastern coastline such as Arklow were chosen because of the shallower waters, which are 20 m deep or less.

The National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW Ireland) announced in April 2010 that 60,000 potential jobs could be created in the Irish marine, construction, engineering and service industries through the development of offshore wind energy in Irish and European waters. NOW Ireland also announced in the same month that over €50bn was due to be invested in the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea in the preceding two decades.^[6]

In Belfast, the harbour industry is being redeveloped as a hub for offshore windfarm construction, at a cost of about £50m. The work will create 150 jobs in construction, as well as requiring about 1m tonnes of stone from local quarries, which will create hundreds more jobs. "It is the first dedicated harbour upgrade for offshore wind".^[7]

On July 31, 2009, the output from the country's turbines peaked at 999 megawatts. At that time, 39% of Ireland’s demand for electricity was met from wind.^[8] On October 24, 2009, the output exceeded 1000 megawatts for the first time with a peak of 1064 MW. Once in April 2010, 50% of electricity demand was met from wind power.^[9] However, the wind generation capacity factor for 2010 was approx. 23.5%, giving an annual average wind energy penetration of approx. 11% of total KWh consumed.^[10][11] A new record in the output of Ireland’s wind farms was recorded at 6pm on Wednesday evening November 2nd 2011, it reached 1,412 megawatts.^[12]

Grid connection is currently awarded on a 'first come, first connect' basis through Gate 3 procedures. On examination of the Gate 3 queue, there are a number of large onshore and offshore wind projects that are down the list and will, therefore, be offered grid connection towards the end of the anticipated 18-month processing period commencing in December 2009.^[13]

Wind farms currently are given a planning permission that expires after five years. Legislation now exists to receive a 10 year planning grant, though it is rarely granted. But, the application process for securing a connection to the grid is on average 11 years for a distribution connection (less than 20 MW) and 8 years for a transmission connection (more than 20 MW). Extensions to the planning permissions may be granted if a significant amount of work has been completed on the wind farm. However, there is no standard or minimum of accepted amount of work that needs to be completed to be granted an extension of the planning permission. This causes some developers to not begin work on a wind farm until a grid connection is guaranteed, which slows the process of fulfilling necessary development to meet the 2010 and future energy goals.

The fourth issue regarding the generation of wind power is the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff, or REFIT. The purpose of REFIT is to encourage development of renewable energy resources. For wind power production, the current limit to the tariff is 1,450 MW. However, applications currently being processed for grid connections exceed the limit by almost 1,500 MW for a total for nearly 3,000 MW. Since the limit is 1,450 MW, many of the applications for grid connections may not eligible for the tariff.^[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wind power in Ireland.

• www.sei.ie - Sustainable Energy Ireland, Ireland's national energy agency.
• www.iwea.ie - Irish Wind Energy Association
• Arklow Bank Wind Park, GE Brochure (PDF)
• Sustainable Energy Ireland's report on policies for Renewable Energy programs (PDF)