Clare Gardaí are advising motorists to be aware that a number of ‘abnormal load escorts’ will travel through the county over the coming weeks.
The convoys, which will be accompanied by members of the Clare Garda Roads Policing Unit, will be travelling from Galway Port and Foynes Port and will travel along the M18 motorway as well as the N68 and N85 national primary routes.
Energia Renewables has already confirmed the successful delivery of the first wind turbine blades to Crossmore Wind Farm, near Lissycasey in County Clare, marking a significant construction milestone.
The transportation of the 57-metre-long blades was undertaken overnight this week (the early hours of Wednesday morning) with a Garda escort to minimise disruption to local traffic. Specialist hauliers, Mar-Train Heavy Haulage, transported the Enercon turbine tower and blade sections from the Port of Galway along the M18 to Ennis, before travelling via the N68 through Lissycasey and onto the L6180 to the site entrance of the wind farm.
A test drive using a full-length trailer was carried out along the route earlier this year to ensure safe delivery of the blades – the largest turbine components. Some permanent and temporary road upgrade works have been carried out at certain points along the route to accommodate the length of the blades. Other large deliveries will include the turbine nacelles – the covers which house the generators and gearboxes. In all, that’s a total of 77 components.
The Crossmore Wind Farm remains on track to enter commercial operation in 2025 and will consist of seven wind turbines generating up to 25.2 MW of renewable energy. The wind farm will be capable of producing enough renewable electricity to power around 14,500 homes and offset over 45,000 tonnes of carbon per annum, helping Ireland to achieve its Climate Action targets.
Commenting on the continued progress on the wind farm site, Energia Renewables Head of Construction Patrick Tierney said, “This is a significant milestone in the construction of Crossmore Wind Farm, bringing energisation and the start of renewable electricity generation one step closer.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in the strategic and logistical planning of these deliveries. It takes a lot of hard work, coordination and partnership working to get these turbine components to site, while ensuring that disruption for road users and residents is kept to a minimum.
“We are committed to our ongoing engagement with the local community and we would encourage anyone with questions to contact us and keep updated on construction works via our dedicated webpage and text messaging service.”
Energia will be posting regular construction updates on the wind farm project page www.energiagroup.com/renewables. The construction team are also sending turbine delivery updates by text.
Anyone interested in registering for this free service should email their name, address and mobile number to clo@energia.ie and include CROSSMORE in the subject line. Every text includes an option to unsubscribe.
A post on the An Garda Síochána Clare Facebook page reads:
“Over the next few weeks a number of abnormal load escorts will travel along the M18, N85 and N68. The escorts may happen from approx midnight until 5am.
The vehicles will be accompanied by Roads Policing vehicles to ensure public safety and minimise disruption. Please obey all signals and instructions given.”
Visit the Clare Garda Facebook page for more information.
