Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Mayo County Council has adopted a new renewable energy strategy which designates many hundreds of square kilometres of lands as preferred or open to consideration for onshore wind farming including very large areas of north-west Mayo; if he will provide the estimate of the wind turbine capacity in megawatts per square kilometre at 50 m and 100 m above ground at Bellacorick; the capacity factor and mean annual energy production per square kilometre at 50 m and 100 m above ground at Bellacorick; the possible error range of his calculations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16810/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The development by Mayo County Council of a renewable energy strategy is a positive initiative. The development by all local authorities of renewable energy strategies is to be encouraged. My Department together with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and other relevant stakeholders are working to develop a methodology and template for local authority renewable energy strategies. My Department does not hold information on wind data at specific locations around the country.

The SEAI's Wind Energy Atlas, available on their website (www.seai.ie), provides information on wind speeds, electricity transmission and distribution networks for locations around Ireland at national and county levels. It is noted that specific windfarms providing detail on such data is generally considered as commercially sensitive by the commercial entities concerned.