By Andrew Hamilton

Decommissioning the Derrybrien windfarm could trigger another environmental disaster – as enough concrete to fill twelve Olympic-sized swimming pools will have to be removed from highly unstable bogland as part of the process.

A delegation of five Independent Senators visited the South Galway facility last Friday, with former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Senator Michael McDowell, describing ESB’s plans to decommission the windfarm as ‘an act of vandalism’ and ‘almost criminal’.

The controversial windfarm was taken off-line by the ESB in February, when An Bord Pleanála refused a ‘substitute consent’ planning request for the facility.

The Government has already paid out €5 million in a lump sum fine, as well as daily fines of €15,000, in the wake of a peat-slide which took place in Derrybrien in 2003.

Each of the 70 wind turbines at Derrybrien is currently sitting on a poured concrete foundation which is anchored into the bog itself.

Taken together, these foundations total more than 28,000 cubic metres of concrete, or enough concrete to fill twelve Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Concerns have also been raised about potential damage to the wind turbines themselves if they remain inactive through the winter months.

The ESB is currently heating each turbine to prevent the build-up of moisture, but the metal structures will eventually seize-up if they are not either decommissioned or returned to active use.

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.