SSE Renewables hosting information evening on Richfield Wind Farm life extension plans

SSE Renewables is hosting a public information evening about its plans to submit a life extension planning application for Richfield Wind Farm in County Wexford. Local residents are invited to attend the event taking place on Wednesday 26 June in Stella Maris Centre, Kilmore Quay from 3pm - 8pm.

The 27MW Richfield wind farm comprises 18 turbines and entered commercial operation in 2006. Life extension will allow the wind farm to continue to abate almost 18,000 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide* per annum, helping Ireland meet its climate targets.

It also means the local Community Benefit Fund can continue to provide funding for community groups in the vicinity of the windfarm for the extended lifetime of the project. Since it launched in 2007, the Richfield Community Fund has awarded €416,848 to 266 community groups in the vicinity of the wind farm.

SSE Renewables External Relations Manager for the project, Eda Martin said: “We are eager to reassure communities in Wexford that extending the life of the planning permission of Richfield Wind Farm will not lead to any changes. The wind farm will continue to operate as it has been doing for 18 years. The project team will be on hand to share their expertise and to explain how this will allow the environmental, economic and community benefits of the wind farm to continue.”

Alongside the existing wind farm, SSE Renewables has plans to build two other projects in the region. The first is a circa 21MW solar photovoltaic (PV) array (solar farm) on a 44 hectare site in the townlands of Hooks and Yoletown, adjacent to the existing Richfield Wind Farm. A planning application was submitted to Wexford County Council in September 2023 following a period of local public consultation earlier in 2023. The other is the Arklow Bank Wind Park 2, an 800MW offshore wind farm which SSE Renewables submitted a planning application for earlier this month.

Members of the SSE Renewables team will be on hand to answer questions at the information event. For more information in the meantime please email our Community Liaison Team at: [email protected]