Green energy company looks to Offaly for first time

Renewable energy company Gaeltech Energy Developments Ltd has looked to Offaly for the first time to assess the feasibility of a wind farm here. The Cavan-based company has applied to Offaly County Council for planning permission to erect a 100m high anemometer mast to monitor and record wind speeds and characteristics for five years. The application, which was submitted to Offaly planners on March 27, relates to a site at Stonestown, Cloghan. According to Catherine Keogan from Galetech the site is the company's first venture into Offaly. She confirmed the monitoring mast is the first step in the process of situating a wind farm on the site. Such a move would depend on data collected if planning permission for the anemometer mast was given however she said, and is still a long way off. Galetech works across the midlands, with planning permission granted for sites in Cavan and Monaghan and according to Ms Keogan more sites in the middle of the planning process. A nine-turbine wind farm near Mullingar was refused permission by Bord Pleanala last year. A decision regarding the erection of an anemometer mast in Cloghan is expected from Offaly County Council planners not later than May 21.