The first wind turbines have been installed at Ørsted's Farranrory wind farm in Co Tipperary - the company's 22nd wind farm on the island of Ireland.
Farranrory Wind Farm is the first development in the world to incorporate road markers made from recycled turbine blades.
By recycling old blades from Ørsted's recently retired Owenreagh 1 windfarm in Northern Ireland, the onshore development supports its commitment to either reuse, recycle, or recover every wind turbine blade that reaches its end of life.
Located near Ballingarry, the onshore wind farm will consist of nine 4.8 MW turbines and will improve the Irish grid via a 33.5km 110kV connection to Ballyragget substation in Co Kilkenny. Once fully operational the wind farm will have capacity to supply 43.2 MW of renewable electricity, which is enough to power up to 25,000 households.
The development was awarded a contract under the Government's third onshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS 3) auction in 2023 and is expected to be fully operational by the summer of 2026.
TJ Hunter, Vice President of Onshore Ireland & UK, Ørsted said the company was really proud to reach this milestone for turbine installation at Farranrory.
"It brings contemporary leading-edge turbine and grid technology together to help secure Ireland’s energy system. Using recycled blades from our oldest windfarm to make marker posts for our newest windfarm brings the meaning of circular economy to the next level," he said.
Ørsted Onshore Ireland is constructing 179.2 MW of additional renewable capacity in Ireland this year, including the first two Irish solar farms.
Together, these projects will bring Ørsted's operational capacity across solar power and onshore wind in Ireland and Northern Ireland to over 550 MW.
