From: Tom Gray <tgray@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.appalachian
Date: 28 Dec 92 14:24 PST
Subject: --Wind Succeeds Irish Coal Mine
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1666600001:000:3291
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!tgray    Dec 28 14:24:00 1992


/* Written  9:53 am  Dec 14, 1992 by tgray@igc.apc.org in igc:en.energy */
WINDFARM SUCCEEDS COAL
AS MINE PLAYS OUT
 
Construction will begin on Ireland's second wind power project 
early next year.  The four-turbine facility will be built by Arigna
Fuels on a recently-reclaimed coal mine in County Leitrim's Arigna
Mountains.
 
The 1.2-MW plant will be installed during 1993 with support from 
the European Community.  Arigna spokesman Michael Layden said the
EC contributed 500,000 Irish pounds (US $1 million) to  the 1.6-
million-pound (US $3.2-million) project. Arigna Fuels, he said,
expects to eventually expand the project to 10 MW.
 
Layden estimated that each 300-kW WindMaster turbine will generate
more than one million kWh per year at the 9 m/s (20 mph) site.
Because of the region's steady winds, he said, there should be 
sufficient wind to operate the turbines 85 percent of the time.
 
The project, which overlooks Lough Allen on the border between the
Republic of Ireland and Ulster, is 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of
Bellacorick in County Mayo, where a 6.5-MW windfarm has been
installed (see Wind Energy Weekly #481, January 20, 1992, p. 4). 
Like the developer of the Bellacorick plant, Arigna will sell the
power it generates to Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) for
3.65 Irish pence (US 7 cents) per kWh.
 
The northern counties in the Irish Republic are the country's 
principal source of peat and coal.  The Bellacorick facility of 21
Danish Nordtank turbines was installed earlier this year on a 
reclaimed mine operated by Ireland's state peat company Bord na 
Mona.  The surface mine provided peat to ESB's nearby 40-MW peat-
fired power plant.
 
Bord na Mona estimates that the Bellacorick  turbines will generate
20 million kWh per year at the 8 m/s (18  mph) site for about 3,100
kWh per kilowatt of installed capacity.
 
Similarly, Arigna Fuels mined bituminous coal for a 15-MW plant at
Arigna.  The firm closed the open cast mine last year and has 
reclaimed the site.  The coal-fired power plant will also close 
after it exhausts its existing stockpile.  Arigna Fuels hopes that 
the gradual expansion of the windfarm will enable it to re-employ
some of the newly-unemployed coal miners.
 
===============================

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has authorized me to offer
an electronic edition of its newsletter, _Wind Energy Weekly_, from
which the above article is excerpted, at no cost.

For those of you who have not previously seen excerpts from back issues
on Usenet or Bitnet, the _Weekly_ reports on the outlook for renewable
energy, energy-related environmental issues, and renewable energy
legislation in addition to wind industry trade news.  The electronic
edition normally runs about 10kb in length.

If you would like a free electronic subscription, send me an e-mail
request.  Please include information on your position, organization,
and reason for interest in the publication.

If the _Weekly_ is not quite for you, please pass this message on to
someone else you think might be interested.  Thanks.

*******************************************************************
Tom Gray                                 EcoNet/PeaceNet: tgray@igc
Internet/Bitnet: tgray@igc.apc.org            UUCP: uunet!cdp!tgray