Westmeath has to see the light on renewable energy
Mullingar Sustainable Energy Community column
Last week, Minister Darragh O’Brien announced that electricity prices could go up by more than 9% over the summer, and gas prices even more. That is as a direct result of the US Israel war in Iran and the fact our electricity grid is still largely run on fossil fuels. If we are serious about energy affordability, security and climate responsibility, we must accelerate the development of renewable energy and sever our dependence on imported fossil fuels.
According to the SEAI Renewable Electricity County Dashboard, Westmeath is one of only two counties in Ireland that currently have no installed renewable energy generation contributing to the national grid; the other is Longford.
This is a missed opportunity, and a risk. Every solar farm not built, every wind project delayed and every community initiative stalled keeps us more dependent on imported oil and gas. We cannot continue to rely on other counties, or other countries, to do what we should be doing ourselves.
There are some positive signs. In Mullingar we have seen a welcome rise in domestic rooftop solar installations. Households are increasingly taking control of their own energy use, reducing bills and contributing to a cleaner environment. This grassroots momentum is encouraging, but it’s not enough. Small-scale domestic systems alone cannot meet the energy demands of our communities, or deliver the level of independence we need.
Large-scale renewable projects must form part of the solution, but progress in this area has been frustratingly slow in Westmeath. One of the recurring challenges is the tension between local concerns and broader societal needs. While local voices must always be heard and respected, it is increasingly clear that the narrow, sometimes misinformed interests of a few are, at times, obstructing developments that would benefit the wider community.
That said, responsibility does not lie solely with objectors or indeed with politicians. Our politicians will deliver what they think people want. If not enough people call for more solar and wind farms, it will not be a priority for elected representatives.
Renewable energy companies must also take a long hard look at their approach. Too often, projects are brought forward without meaningful engagement with communities or sufficient environmental impact assessment, which delays projects getting through the planning process and sometimes scuppers them altogether.
A better model exists and it requires transparency, collaboration, robust assessment and shared benefit. Community-led initiatives are a key part of it. The Mullingar Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) has been working for five years to develop a solar farm on the site of the former Marlinstown landfill. It’s the kind of forward-thinking, community-focused development that national policy claims to support. It would generate clean energy, repurpose a brownfield site and deliver long-term benefits to the area, providing energy for hundreds of homes. Profits would be reinvested into retrofitting homes in Mullingar to combat fuel poverty.
Yet despite its merits, the project has run aground due to regulatory hurdles, grid connection issues and a lack of clear support mechanisms, which is deeply frustrating. There is no sense of urgency from the agencies who should be supporting and enabling projects like this. Instead, community groups are instead left navigating an overly complex system with limited resources.
Based on its own experience, the Mullingar SEC is currently working on a proposal for a set of start-up supports for community-led renewable energy projects which it will send to Minister Darragh O’Brien and the SEAI in the coming weeks. That would also benefit SECs across Ireland.
The bottom line is that we have to learn to live side by side with wind farms and solar farms in Westmeath. We can’t continue to bury our heads in the sand and hope that other counties will do what we should be doing ourselves.
Nor can we expect all of the wind and solar farms in the midlands to be built on bogs. Renewable energy projects should only be considered on highly degraded cutaway peatlands and not on bogs that are acting as valuable stores of carbon which, if disturbed, could release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, thereby being counterproductive.
The lesson from the oil crisis is clear: energy independence is a necessity, not a luxury. The most recent oil crisis has cost Ireland €750 million so far; what will the next one cost? Fossil fuels have no place in our energy future and the sooner we realise that, the sooner we can get on with making the transformation to a cleaner, safer and more affordable future for our children. The question is whether we in Westmeath will rise to the challenge, or continue to fall behind.
• Link to the county renewable map by SEAI
https://www.seai.ie/renewable-energy/renewable-electricity/about-dashboard/dashboard