For many years wind power has taken the Quinn Group ahead in the renewable energy stakes, with wind farms already operational on the Fermanagh/Cavan border. However this month their latest more ambitious project is beginning to take shape, and is being developed as the company celebrates its success as the most profitable business in Northern Ireland. Construction has begun on a new 18-turbine 54 megawatt wind farm on the slopes of Slieve Rushen Mountain, with the first turbine now erected.
Earlier in the summer the components of this giant construction project were transported through Enniskillen to the site. The 45 metre long blades were each carried on specialist low loaders as they negotiated the tight junctions. Now the towers and blades are being assembled on the Slieve Rushen site. Each turbine will have the capacity to generate 3 megawatts of electricity, and once commissioned for production the project as a whole will seriously reduce the Quinn Group's carbon footprint.
The Group built the original wind farm in 1995, which produced a comparatively meagre 5 megawatts of electricity. In 2004, an additional 13.4 megawatt farm was built at Snugborough, Ballyconnell. This latest project will dwarf both of those wind farms and will be visible from a wide area. All the electricity produced will be fed into the National Grid, and Northern Ireland Electricity is currently upgrading one of its main lines from Enniskillen to Derrylin from 33,000 volts to 110,000 volts, to enable the Quinn Group and other users in the area to have sufficient energy needs.
