Residents and businesses in Co Wicklow have expressed concerns about plans to locate a major wind farm 6km off the coast of the county.
The South East Coast Protection Alliance said SSE Renewables' proposals to erect up to 56 wind turbines, which they say are each the height of the Eiffel Tower, will irreparably damage the 27km long sandbank along the coast.
The group has claimed that seven smaller wind turbines currently located 13km off the coast of Arklow have had a detrimental effect on areas of coastline, particularly the southern end of Brittas Bay beach.
They have called on SSE Renewables to locate the wind farm further out to sea.
The group said: "By revising the location, we can all benefit from Ireland’s commitment to renewable energy and preserve the outstanding natural beauty of our beaches and sand dunes.
"At 287 metres tall, the proposed turbines will be the biggest the world has ever seen, each comparable to the Eiffel Tower - and sited as close as 6km to shore.
"The SSE proposals would see 2.6 million tonnes of solid matter being poured onto the sandbank, effectively levelling an area of 986 acres.
"The Arklow sandbank is listed under Annex 1 of the EU Habitats Directive as it is intrinsically linked to the wellbeing and survival of hundreds of species of wildlife.
"We are calling for the current SSE submission to be rejected and for any future permission to be considered only on condition that any such project is sited 'within the internationally-accepted demarcation line for offshore wind turbines of all sizes" which is at least 22km offshore."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Olivia Caffola of the South East Coast Protection Alliance said the group wants to see the wind farm located further out to sea.
"The proposed turbines would be taller than Bray Head, they will be almost as big as the Eiffel Tower," she said.
"They will be six kilometres from shore and sited on a sandbank that has an incredibly important role for the Wicklow-Wexford coastline which is to protect it from storm erosion and to replenish the sandy beaches," she added.
She said the alliance "feel that this location is wrong", adding it "needs to be thoroughly re-examined".
"There are more suitable locations available for SSE renewables to do this," she said.
Ms Caffola said: "They have the technology, they have the capability to build fixed bottom turbines in very deep waters and they can do it floating.
"So, really we feel it's not necessary to sacrifice 11 beaches from Silver Stand in Wicklow down to Kilgorman in Wexford for a windfarm that will eradicate this environment for generations of people."
Businesses are also concerned about the impact of the wind farm.
Mick Higgins, who owns the Mill Race Holiday Park in Brittas Bay said that he believes the project could damage the hundreds of tourism related businesses in the region.
He said: "Over 1.5 million people visit Wicklow and Wexford on an annual basis.
"That's a lot of people and generates over €400 million to the communities that live there.
"We feel that people won't want to visit the beaches during that construction period because its going to be looking at a building site."
But the Irish Wind industry says the turbines cannot be located much further out to sea.
Justin Moran of Wind Energy Ireland said that locating such projects further out to sea is not possible in Ireland due to the nature of the seabed.
He said: "More than a third of our installed European capacity is within 22 km from shore.
"Only last April Denmark announced four big new projects all within 22km.
"Additionally, due to seabed depth in the Irish marine space, any proposal to restrict offshore wind energy development to outside 22km would mean literally every single proposed project on the east, west and south coast would be blocked."
In a statement, SSE Renewables said they have provided an accurate, scientific and fact-based assessment of the environmental impacts.
The company said: "Sure Partners Limited, a subsidiary of SSE Renewables, has submitted an environmental impact assessment report (EIAR) with the planning application recently made to An Bord Pleanála for the Arklow Bank Wind Park 2 project.
"The EIAR provides an accurate description of the project and a scientific, fact-based assessment of potential environmental impacts of the development.
"The planning application and EIAR is available for all members of the public to view at the Offices of An Bord Pleanála, Wicklow County Council and Wexford County Council or online at www.arklowbank2offshoreplanning.ie."
The public consultation on the project is open until 7 August.
