Pioneers of Irish Wind Industry honoured by Irish Wind Energy Association

DP Energy Founder and Executive Director Maureen De Pietro and three female colleagues were at the IWEA Annual Conference in Dublin this week honoured for their contribution to the Irish Wind Industry since the first wind farm was built in Ireland at Bellacorrick 25 years ago

The Irish Wind Energy Association was established in 1993 to lobby the government and the ESB on the need for renewable generation as part of the energy mix in the country. The wind industry in Ireland has gone on to become one of the great success stories of the last two decades, with over 3,000MW of installed capacity on the system. On the 24th of December 2016 over 2,800 megawatts of electricity was generated by wind across the island, providing 68% of Ireland’s energy needs at that time.

Maureen De Pietro having become aware of the need for action to combat threatened climate change and environmental degradation gave up her law firm partnership in 1992 to become a sole practitioner and to devote her time to the promotion of the production of energy from renewable resources. Initially she concentrated on wind energy projects the first of which to be commissioned was Bessy Bell Wind Farm in Northern Ireland in 1994. Maureen continues to be active in construction and operation of renewable energy projects and including solar and new technologies such as tidal energy, floating wind and energy storage to maximise the deployment of renewable energy.

The first of the DP Energy Companies was incorporated in 1996 and a number of wind farms were developed, financed, constructed and operated in Ireland by DP Energy Ireland Ltd until the operating projects and pipeline were sold to ESB in 2008. The DP Group is still a family business encompassing a number of renewable energy Companies in Ireland, UK, Australia and Canada. The aim of all of these companies is to promote sustainable development using renewable energy resources without harming the environment or any species within it.

Pioneers of Irish Wind – Click here