History of the Wind Atlas

The Wind Atlas for Ireland was developed in response to recommendations from the Renewable Energy Strategy Group. It was completed in 2003 was distributed to all Local Authorities to help identify areas suitable for wind energy developments .

Following the 1999 Green Paper on Sustainable Energy, a Renewable Energy Strategy Group was formed to develop a strategy for the increased contribution of renewable, and in particular, wind energy to Irish electricity generation.

One of the Group's recommendations was to prepare a digital map of Ireland’s wind energy resource along with information on the electricity transmission and distribution networks.

The Wind Atlas for Ireland was launched at the Energy from Fresh Air Wind Energy Conference, 2003 in Sligo. The Irish National Onshore Wind Energy Resource Study (.pdf, 573kb) outlining the history, methodology used and the different information that can now be easily accessed through the wind atlas, was presented by Pat McCullan from ESBI.

The Wind Atlas, along with the recently published Attitudes towards Wind Farms in Ireland (.pdf, 1964kb) and the forthcoming Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government revised "Wind Farm Development: Guidelines for Planning Authorities", provides the framework for the identification of strategic, preferred, open to consideration and no-go areas for wind energy development to be incorporated into Local Authority Development Plans. 

The Wind Atlas for Ireland was developed for SEAI by Truewind Inc and ESBI Engineering.