The
site is situated at the southern most extent of the mountain range
known as the Hollyford Hills in Tipperary South Riding. It has a
mean site elevation of around 300m and an average hub height wind
speed of 7.5metres/second. It lies immediately north of Cappawhite
village and approximately 17 km north of Tipperary town. The land
use is primarily grazing for cattle with some small elements of
forestry. |
 |
|
The
Cappawhite wind farm was originally granted planning permission
in 2001 based on a layout of 11 turbines of between 1.5 and 1.65MW
installed capacity each, however, since then it has (along with
many other wind farms) been waiting for an ESB grid connection offer. |
|
|
The
moratorium on connection offers imposed by ESB in 2003 because of
the initial concerns over how much wind energy could be accepted
onto the grid has now been lifted, following detailed assessment.
This resulted in the announcement of a new round of grid connection
offers (so called Gate 2) and Cappawhite wind farm has now received
a connection offer. |
|
 |
Since
the original site design some 6 years ago, turbine technology has
moved on and we have now considerably more wind data. The revised
proposal replaces the original 11 machines with 8 higher energy
capture machines better designed for the wind speeds on the site.
The revised layout then is based on 8 turbines of up to nominally
90metre rotor diameter and 80 metre hub height and a number of candidate
machines are being considered. These machines will have installed
capacities of around 2.0MW each. |
|
 |
The
energy capture of the revised layout eight machines is predicted
to be 19-26% better than the eleven turbines of the original Cappawhite
design. |
|
|
An Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken as part of the site redesign and a revised Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted in support of the planning application to change the layout. The revised layout Cappawhite was granted planning permission in February 2008, and will enter construction shortly.
|
|
|
Turbine |
|
Manufacturer
& model |
TBC |
Nameplate Rating |
2,000KW |
Hub Height |
80M |
Rotor Diameter |
90M |
| |
|
Site |
|
Number of Machines |
8 |
Total Installed Capacity |
16,00 MW |
Annual Output |
55.0 GWh |
Equivalent Tonnage
of CO2 Saved |
47,000 |
Equivalent Number
of Households |
11,000 |
| |
|
Power Contract |
TBC |
Commission Date (Scheduled) |
TBC |
|
 |
