County Derry wind farm campaign group respond to RenewableNI director's comments

The Save Benbradagh Group has hit back at a statement from RenewableNI who they say have 'used their own poll to lobby political support, which they believe is brushing off the concerns of many residents and community groups in Dungiven, who want to protect Banagher Nature Reserve and the iconic Benbradgah Mountain from Wind Farm industrialisation'.

In a recent interview with the County Derry Post, Stephen Agnew RenewableNI stated: “Our polling would show that where people have wind farms in their local areas their support for wind increases.”

Stephen Agnew also stated that those who campaign against wind farms, are in a minority as well as stating “once the wind farms are in place you start to see the fears disappear”.

A spokesperson for Save Benbradagh responded to those claims, saying: “We appreciate there are some communities who do not object, however this is simply not the case here with significant objections from the local community as well as three large community groups. As a community we are very familiar with wind farms, having several on three of the four horizons around the Dungiven area, and it’s incorrect as well as condescending to our community, to imply that we will get used to them once they are up.”

The Save Benbradagh group continued saying: “We are fed up having legitimate concerns neatly put into two baskets, ie you are either for renewable energy or you are against it. This has the effect of silencing people who are not against renewable energy but feel their community is already doing its fair share of hosting these industrial energy parks, and just want to see protection for the remaining landscape before it’s lost under a mass of wind farms, battery storage and pylons”.

Stephen Agnew RenewableNI stated in the County Derry post article: “We respect people in the area that oppose wind farms. More often than not it comes down to the issue of visual impact. I would say that is subjective”.

Save Benbradagh responded: “We would like to point out that subjectivity is intimately connected to identity and not purely an individual phenomenon but, something deeply intertwined with social structures and processes. Our identity and culture is linked to the local landscape and our landscape underpins recreation as well as tourism in the area.”

The Save Benbradagh spokesperson stated: “The Dungiven Community live in an area saturated with wind farms and proposals to further now industrialise the Sperrin’s AONB and Benbradagh Mountain is simply unethical, a non-diverse approach lacking any regional balance and shows a complete disregard for the local community. We will have absolutely no visual relief in this area from wind farms if these current and future wind farms are put through and it’s really oppressive for the Dungiven community.”

The Save Benbradagh spokesperson continued “an ‘independent’ poll published by Consumer NI in December 2024 actually showed growing opposition to onshore wind development in NI and all of the SONI (Transmission System Operator for Northern Ireland) reports to date also shows a growing lack of support. This is not confined to the North, in January 2025 there was cross party support in Co Clare for no new onshore wind development with one councilor stating “Residents have legitimate concerns and stated that this is not a motion against climate action.”

“Cases are being taken all over the world resulting in wind farms in unsuitable areas being shut down. Closer to home, only recently a Cavan farmer was awarded 40,000 euro because of land deprecation due to large scale energy structures. Only a few weeks ago, ABO Wind (the company responsible for the Benbradagh wind farm application), were ordered to shut down half of their turbines due to noise disturbance (something the company denied was an issue) with the judge ordering over 300,000 euros in compensation to the residents, and in in 2020 the Irish Government received substantial sanctions because of the Meenbog Disaster in Donegal which caused massive destruction to the rivers and wildlife and took a local campaign group years to fight and finally get development stopped.”

The spokesperson for Save Benbradagh added: “Questions still need to be answered as to why Northern Ireland is the only jurisdiction that has dropped the ball and continues to pursue such a non-diverse energy strategy for 2030. Currently these multi nationals are trying to push through applications when the reality is that almost 40% of our renewables are switched off (stats from the last 2 years) because there are more renewables than the grid can handle. The result is, we are paying wind farm companies not to produce energy and it’s all coming out of the NI consumers pocket. It’s also really important to highlight that there are a significant number of windfarms that have been approved and are not getting built because the grid cannot cope. This is really concerning considering these companies are pushing and lobbying for even more in our area.

“If they want to alleviate the costs of constraint payments as a result of renewables being turned off, why do they not start building wind farms in the East where the energy is most needed which would also mitigate the need for battery storage.”

The Save Benbradagh group have appealed for political representatives to take a pause and to stop and listen to the many campaign groups who have no vested interest accept a love for the landscape they call home and all of the nature within it. We live in one of the most beautiful and naturally diverse areas on this Island and we are so proud of that. Let us protect what we have left. It should not be renewables at all costs to communities, biodiversity and valued landscapes and the voice of Dungiven people should definitely not be considered as a minority.”