Energia Renewables, a subsidiary of leading energy company Energia Group, partnered with STEAM Education and Wind Energy Ireland to host a local school visit to Energia’s largest wind farm in County Donegal. This initiative is part of Energia Group’s commitment to promoting climate action and green energy education.

Pupils from St Ernan’s National School in Ballintra learned about wind energy, tried on safety kit and saw inside a turbine tower.  Seeing bolts around the tower base, 12-year-old Ultan Hoey wanted to find out more about turbine foundations. Sophie O’Brien and Michaela McGrory said they couldn’t believe how tall the turbines were. The fifth and sixth class pupils got creative, drawing their own pictures of the 38-turbine site and created quite a gallery.

Jason Doherty, Site Manager, said: “It’s always a pleasure to host school visits.  The Energia Renewables Operations team are committed to promoting wind energy education. You can tell that the school children are paying attention in class because, when they arrive on site, they really keep us on our toes by asking lots of questions about everything they see around them.  Who knows, we may have inspired some future wind energy engineers here today to work in wind.”

Patricia Gallagher, Principal of St Ernan’s, said the 5^th and 6^th classes had prepared for the visit by learning about wind farms in the classroom: “The children are used to driving past wind farms and have shown a lot of interest in finding out more in class but nothing beats seeing a wind turbine up close and hearing about what’s involved in constructing a wind farm like this and getting all the components to site.  It’s good for them to hear about potential careers and jobs in green energy – especially local jobs.”

The wind farm visit was organised as part of the Wind Europe Project to promote wind energy awareness in conjunction with STEAM Education Ltd.  Dr Alice D'Arcy, Managing Direction of STEAM Education said: “We’re delighted to be promoting Climate Action and green energy education in primary schools.  I’d like to thank St. Ernan's for taking part in our education programme and inspiring their 5^th and 6^th classes. The future leaders of energy and climate action are in our primary school classrooms today and we need to support them on their journey to a sustainable future.”

Lisa-Anne Crookes, Communications Manager for Wind Energy Ireland, added: “Ireland was selected as part of this exciting new Wind Europe education programme to deliver wind energy classes for schools. We are very excited to roll this out with selected schools including this Donegal group. The new Leaving Certificate subject on Climate Action and Sustainable Development shows both the demand and the importance that is now placed on learning more about this at a young age.”