The Galway Wind Park Delivery Team, consisting of SSE, Coillte and Roadbridge, scooped two prestigious trophies at the 2018 Green Awards in Dublin last night.
The team first picked up the Green Construction Award, before taking home the big one – the overall award for Green Business of the Year.
The Green Awards, which celebrated their tenth anniversary on the night, are designed to celebrate businesses and projects demonstrating best green practice in Ireland. This year’s awards ceremony took place at a gala dinner at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin.
Speaking about Galway Wind Park, the judges said that the project is “playing a massive role in making our country greener, by increasing the presence of renewable energy on our territory, and bringing its technology to the forefront.” They noted that they “were impressed by the volume of energy generated at the site and the different methodologies put in place to maximise yield and efficiency”, adding that it “really deserved its place on the top step on the podium”.
The 169MW Galway Wind Park, located in Connemara’s Cloosh Valley, entered full commercial operation last October, and is now Ireland’s largest onshore wind farm, generating enough renewable energy to power around 140,000 homes, while offsetting over 220,000 tonnes of harmful CO2 emissions annually.
James O’Hara, Project Manager for Galway Wind Park, commented:
“We’re thrilled to win not one, but two, prestigious Green Awards. We’re very proud of how the Galway Wind Park project was delivered, and hugely excited about the long-term positive impact the site will continue to have at a local and national level. I’d like to say a big thank you to the entire project delivery team for all their hard work, dedication and skill, and it’s great to see their efforts recognised in this way.
“The Green Awards is always a fantastic event, and I’d like to extend our congratulations to all of the other winners and finalists on their impressive and important achievements."