Cork wind farm set up in 2005 gets extension for another 15 years if it moves to protect raptors

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork County Council has granted permission for a twenty-year-old wind farm near Millstreet to continue operating for another 15 years subject to 24 conditions, including the carrying out of a hen harrier survey and the creation of a precautionary management and protection plan for the white-tailed eagle.

The applicant, Gneeves Wind Farm Ltd, a subsidiary of Orsted Onshore Ireland, had sought permission for the wind farm to continue operating until November 2040. Consisting of 11 turbines on a 10-hectare site around 6 km south-west of Millstreet, the wind farm has been operating since 2005. There are a number of other wind farms operating in the same area of mountain moorland and forest plantation on the Cork-Kerry border.

The applicant argued that the wind farm is contributing renewable energy to the national grid and helping Ireland reach its climate action objectives and could continue to do so without significant negative environmental or wildlife impacts.

It said that other than some drainage improvement works, no physical development works would be required for the wind farm to continue operating. Gneeves Wind Farm Ltd also said that an extension would mean that the local population would continue to receive funding from a Community Benefit Fund.

Orsted, a multinational renewable energy company, owns and operates 21 wind farms across Ireland and is also developing solar farm projects. In December 2025 it applied for planning permission to build a 323-ha solar farm with a 40-year lifespan near Killeagh in East Cork. A decision is due from the local authority in February.

In September 2025, Cork County Council refused an application for a 10-year life extension for a wind farm in north-west Cork on the grounds that an extension would limit the available habitat of the hen harrier, a highly endangered bird of prey.

The 11-turbine Taurbeg wind farm, which is about 10 km from Newmarket and around 25 km north of the Gneeves wind farm, had been operating since 2006. Owner Statkraft had applied for permission to extend the farm’s lifespan for a further ten years until 2036. Statkraft has appealed the refusal to An Coimisiún Pleanála with a decision due in February.