Tuesday 26 January 2016

---

A new national public awareness campaign has been unveiled highlighting Ireland’s significant wind and renewable energy resources while shedding light on Ireland’s unsustainable foreign energy import dependency. Entitled 'The Power to Power Ourselves', the mass audience awareness campaign will feature prominently across TV, radio, digital and outdoor advertising throughout January and will be supported by a dedicated information website – www.windenergy.ie. The campaign has been coordinated by the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) and is the result of a milestone partnership between a number of leading companies operating in the energy sector who share a vision for a more sustainable energy future in Ireland and have an interest in the development of wind energy in Ireland. Speaking about the launch of The Power to Power Ourselves campaign, Kenneth Matthews, CEO, Irish Wind Energy Association said: “The campaign, which reinforces our commitment to the sustainable development of wind energy in Ireland, marks an important milestone for the wind industry and we are looking to really engage people on the topic of clean Irish energy to prompt a broader conversation about Ireland’s own energy future. “Recently we’ve seen a concerning escalation in false and misleading information about wind energy from some quarters and we’re hoping that this campaign will help create greater certainty while also instilling a sense of pride in what is one of Ireland’s fastest growing indigenous industries. “The reality is we have a remarkably abundant wind energy resource and Ireland is uniquely positioned to develop greater energy independence, ultimately reducing our reliance on pollution intensive foreign fossil fuel imports which currently sees billions leave our shores each year. “Wind energy is a cost effective indigenous energy resource which has a proven ability to fuel our homes, businesses and country having already met over 50 percent of our overall electricity demand at times and it will be a critical component in combatting one of the greatest threats facing future generations; climate change.” The campaign was developed by Dublin-based creative agency Rothco as “a message of hope and optimism grounded in real facts” and features audio from John F Kennedy and exclusive photography from renowned photographer Alex Telfer. “A key feature of the campaign builds on President Kennedy’s famous and thought-provoking words to the Dáil in 1963; highlighting that Ireland can play a role on the world stage and can set an example and a standard for other nations to follow,” added Matthews. The main points highlighted as part of the awareness and outreach campaign include: • Ireland remains 85 percent dependent on and volatile foreign energy imports costing approximately €5.7 billion per year, or €15.6 million every day; • Wind energy has already established itself as a reliable and integral part of Ireland’s energy, with almost one in every five units of electricity coming from wind in 2015; • Ireland has enough installed wind energy to power over 1.5 million homes and our wind energy is capable of meeting more than 50 per cent of Ireland’s entire electricity demands. The campaign represented an overall investment figure of €500,000 and was supported by a coalition of well known organisations in Ireland such as Coillte, Bord na Mona, ESB, Gaelectric, Brookfield Renewables, ABO Wind, Element Power, Mason Hayes Curran, Wind Prospect, Siemens, Enercon, Nordex and HG Capital.