Northern Ireland - Survey reveals that nine out of ten people support wind farms

A new survey conducted by Millward Brown Ulster revealed today that nine out of ten people in Northern Ireland (87%) agree that wind farms are necessary to help meet the country’s current and future energy needs. Northern Ireland rock star Tim Wheeler from Ash added his voice to the campaign for wind power, saying: “If we don’t do something now to tackle climate change we’re doomed. I don’t want that on my conscience, do you? Embrace wind now, it’s clean, it’s free and it won’t mess up the planet.” The popular support for wind energy was unveiled at the Northern Ireland launch of Embrace the Revolution by the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), which gives a voice to the silent majority of people who back wind power, but whose voices are rarely heard. The poll results challenge anti-wind myths put out by a vocal minority movement against wind power.

Other findings of the poll, which interviewed 500 people in regions across Northern Ireland, revealed that:

- Two-thirds of Northern Ireland people (66%) agreed that they would be happy to have a wind farm in their local area, rising to 73% in the West of the Province;

- Almost two-thirds of Northern Ireland people (63%) agreed that what wind turbines look like is unimportant, rising to 70% again in the West of the Province;

- Over half of Northern Ireland people (51%) disagreed with the statement that wind farms are ugly or a blot on the Northern Ireland landscape, with 17% saying they are neutral. Those living in the South and West of the Province were even more likely to disagree.

David Surplus, from B9 Energy who operate wind farms in Northern Ireland including Lendrums Bridge and Elliott’s Hill, said: “The Embrace the Revolution poll results confirm what we have found working in Northern Ireland over the last decade. B9 Energy has built six wind farms in Northern Ireland and is responsible for the operation of 80% of Northern Ireland’s wind farms. The wind turbines have proved to be very reliable and are generally “available” to produce energy 98% of the year. The electricity generation figures have been very impressive too, with a typical NI wind turbine producing nearly double the output of an identical machine located in Germany due to the Province’s superior wind speeds. B9 Energy now employs 36 people to develop new wind farms and to carry out operation, maintenance and management of 34 wind farms throughout the UK and Ireland, a total of 503 wind turbines. We anticipate our employment growth curve to be even steeper in the coming years.”

Airtricity, who earlier this year opened their first wind farm in Tappaghan, Co Fermanagh welcomed the findings of the BWEA survey and were not surprised with the results. Airtricity’s Northern Ireland Chief Executive Mark Ennis, said: “Where we have wind farms in operation or in development, we’ve always had a very positive response from the local community. We’ve found that residents have had a mature and rational approach to the issue of wind farms and understand the long-term benefits of harvesting renewable resources of energy. Individuals, community groups and elected politicians have generally been supportive of the development of wind energy in Northern Ireland and that has helped us to initiate a programme of investment in NI renewable energy infrastructure of approximately £450m.”

Northern Ireland people can pledge support for wind at www.embracewind.com. The website is also a factual source of information on wind power.