Farmers and landowners are said to be left in a state of limbo following the collapse of the midlands wind energy project.

After two years of negotiations, heated debates and protests, the controversial midlands wind project appears to be dead. Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte made the announcement earlier this week.

The project would have seen the erection of 1,000 wind turbines in 40 windfarms across five counties in the midlands. The energy generated from those would have been used for export to the British grid to power approximately one million homes. Britain is now thought to be in favour of generating more renewables domestically rather than relying on importation from Ireland.

Hundreds of farmers and landowners are believed to have signed option agreements with two of the three main players in the project, Element and Mainstream. The third, Bord na Móna (BNM), has said it will not continue its plan to export power generated by wind to Britain. BNM had been using cut-away bogs for its windfarms.

Those who signed option agreements have received no contact from the energy companies yet. A number of option agreements were cancelled by the energy companies last year but this was relating to environmental issues. As part of the agreement to export energy generated by wind turbines to Britain, both Element and Mainstream had to pay the British government millions in connection fees.

They will, inevitably, attempt to recoup some of these loses domestically whilst playing the long game in the hope the option to export to Britain becomes available again under 2030 renewable targets.