First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon visited the Irish headquarters of leading energy provider SSE plc to unveil a report which shows that Galway Wind Park has already contributed €88.7m to Irish Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The 169MW project is being jointly delivered by Scotland-based SSE and Coillte, Ireland’s state commercial forestry company, and is the largest of its kind currently under construction in Ireland. When completed in late 2017, it will be the country’s largest onshore wind farm, contributing significantly to Ireland’s 2020 target of producing 40 per cent of electricity from renewable sources.
The First Minister was joined by the Irish Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, to launch the new ‘Galway Wind Park Sustainability Impact Report’. The report outlines the valuable economic, environmental and social impacts the development of the wind energy site is delivering locally and nationally through this Scottish-Irish partnership.
In addition to its GDP contribution, construction of Galway Wind Park is so far responsible for supporting 1,657 years of full-time employment in Ireland. Regionally, more than 100 local businesses have provided products and services to the project, representing a €20m spend with the local supply chain in Co. Galway. The report also shows that at peak construction 63 per cent of all civil contract workers and 43 per cent of all grid connection contract workers lived within 30km of the site.