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To enable the transition of Clonakilty and the surrounding areas to self sufficiency in renewable energy, in order to support a sustainable economy and quality of life for the community.
The Sustainable Energy Working Group, a sub group of Sustainable Clonakilty, was formed in February 2008 by a group of volunteers from the community who are committed to working towards Clonakilty becoming energy independent by 2020, and a leader in Ireland for renewable energy generation.
There are two main aims to this project, conserving energy where possible, and creating new sources of renewable energy. We have received funding from Failte Ireland (part of the 2007 Best Emerging Rural Tourism Destination award prize) to conduct an Energy Audit of the town. This will give us baseline energy consumption figures for the town and thus enable us to predict our energy requirements and measure progress.
Güssing, a town the same size as Clonakilty in Austria, reduced its carbon emissions by 93% over the course of 15 years and created over 1,000 jobs through embracing renewable energy technology. They have the capability and process defined to assist towns like ours to replicate their achievement and aim to identify one or two towns/regions per country in Europe to do this with initially. A member of our group already working in the energy sector has visited Güssing and had some preliminary discussions. It seems that we could move ahead rapidly in our aims if we were to draw on Güssing’s European Centre for Renewable Energy expertise and experience. It could also affect the way we conduct our energy audit, so a fact-finding mission to Güssing was seen as very important.
We are grateful to the Clonakilty Mayor and Town Council who at their meeting on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 unanimously supported our application for community funding to facilitate a delegation to travel to Güssing. The expedition took place on 3rd -5th November 2008.
Members of the Sustainable Energy Working Group
Peter Madden (Chair)
Alison Wickham (Secretary)
Mark Holland, Denis Croombs, Robbie Lambert, Cionnaith O'Suilleabhain, Robert Walsh, Xavier Du Buisson Ray Lucy, Trevor ButtimerClonergy Project Plan
Click below to read the:
Sustainable Clonakilty project outline document in pdf format
Fact Sheet on Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland for visit to ECRE, Güssing, Austria, 4 November, 2008
Location & Population
Clonakilty is located about 3 km from the southwest coast of Ireland.
Latitude: 51° 37' 23" N, Longitude: 8° 52' 14" W
Clonakilty & environs population: 4,154 (Census 2006) and is predicted to rise to 8,718 by 2020. There are 1432 private households comprising 503 detached, 256 semi detached and 443 terrace.
Clonakilty has a combined urban and rural population of 14,678 (Census 2006)
Labour participation rate is 55%.
Manufacturing, wholesale and tourism are the principal occupations in the town (from Town Plan) with agriculture (mainly intensive dairying) in the surrounding countryside.
A rough estimate of the electricity consumption of the town is 4-5 Megawatts.
Assuming an average household is 3 persons, heating oil consumption is about 1,000 litres per year, per household.
Possible Renewable Energy Natural Resources
Solar energy In general Ireland receives between 950 and 1,100 kWh/m2 but non-attributed publications place the Clonakilty area at 1200kWh/m2.
Wind Energy Ireland has some of the strongest winds in Europe.
For local wind speed maps see: http://esb2.net.weblink.ie/SEI/MapPage.asp
However the town plan has identified Clonakilty as ‘a strategically unsuitable area for wind farms due to the high landscape sensitivity’, but small-scale operations in suitable places may be permitted. However, off shore and rural wind farms may be a possibility.
Biomass The temperate climate promotes the growth of biomass resources such as grass and similar crops plus urban lawn and garden waste. Surrounding agricultural activities may contribute waste materials. Hotels, restaurants and hospitals have food waste to dispose of.
Tidal energy Coastal estuaries at Timoleague, Clonakilty and Rosscarbery could provide a tidal zone of several square kilometres with a tidal range of 2-3 meters. Clonakilty estuary alone could generate in the order of several megawatts.
Wave Energy is probably not feasible due to the lack of wave strength on the southwest coast.
Geothermal resource in Clonakilty is poor in relation to the rest of the country.
Mini Hydro The region has a high rainfall, and several small river systems, although larger river systems have already been tapped.
Renewable Energy Constraints
There is currently no means of selling back surplus energy from small operations to the centralised national grid.
Further information:
Sustainable Energy Ireland: www.sei.ie
Sustainable Clonakilty website: www.sustainableclon.ie
Clonakilty website: www.clonakilty.ie
Members of the Delegation to Güssing
An invitation was issued by the Working Group to Town and County Council representatives and officials, energy and funding agencies as well as local business people whose projects have an impact on the town to accompany the delegation. Despite a great deal of interest shown by a number of people, ultimately they were unable to come due to personal or work commitments.
However we are most grateful to the following who made space in their busy lives to go with us:
Town Council
Cllr Cionnaith O'Suilleabhain
Cllr Robert Walsh
Town Clerk Justin England
Sustainable Clonakilty funded by the Town Council
Robert Lambert
Peter Madden
Alison Wickham, Secretary Sustainable Clonakilty
Independently funded
Trevor Buttimer, Renewable Energy Management Services Ltd.
Bob Hilliard, Hillback Developments
Itinerary Güssing Fact Finding Mission
Monday 3rd NovemberTravel to Güssing, leaving Clon. at 9am and arriving at 1am local time due to fog delay.
Tuesday, 4th of November 2008
8.00am Buffet breakfast at Com Inn, Hotel
Walk to ECRE Centre
ECRE Program:
09:00 am: Presentation on the ‘Model of Güssing’
10:00 am: Visit to Biomass Plant Güssing, District heating Plant Güssing and Biogas Plant Strem
12:00 noon: Lunch at the restaurant ‘Cafe Innovation’
01:30 pm: Discussion with Ing. Reinhard Koch
03.00pm: Visit to ECRE training centre
04:30 pm: Visit to Güssing town centre
7.00pm: Debriefing discussion of day’s events
8.00pm: Dinner
Wednesday November 5, 2008
9.00am Buffet breakfast at Com Inn Hotel, pack and onto bus
1030hrs Leave Güssing for Vienna
1300 hrs Arrive Vienna for check in and lunch
Depart Vienna on BA701 at 1505 hrs arrive London Heathrow 1630
Depart London Heathrow on BA5723 at 1805hrs arrive Cork 1920
Bus to Clon. arriving at 2100 hrs approx.
Thursday November 13, 2008
Public Meeting at the Quality Hotel, Clonakilty to more than 85 people where a MS Power Point presentation described what was seen and learned in Güssing, as well as alerting local people to the need to keep their energy bills in order to be able to assist in the energy audit.
To view or download the full visit report (8.0mb pdf document) please check here
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Background Reading
Article on Güssing, Austria by Richard Douthwaite
Article on Güssing, Austria from International Herald Tribune:
A town of 4,000 people who went from depressed area to economic success through renewable energy sustainabiltiy in a space of 15 years.
http://www.iht.com/articles
Article on Güssing, Austria from European Centre for Renewable Energy
http://www.ecreag.com/index.
and click on:
Die Modellregion Güssing - Englisch which you will see at the bottom centre of the page
(you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer)
It is a five page document laying out exactly what Gussing has achieved and the technologies they are using.
A copy of the presentation by members of the energy group to the Eden Conference Inchydoney Hotel Feb 2009 is available here
