Maze Prison could become wind farm
The site of the old Maze Prison could be turned into a wind farm big enough to power nearby Lisburn in Co Antrim, it was claimed tonight.
Energia, the Belfast-based independent supplier of electricity which has underwritten the two biggest wind farms in Northern Ireland, said it was considering undertaking a feasibility study for a wind farm at the Maze.
John Mawhinney, Energia’s Northern Ireland Sales and Marketing Manager, said : “If the conditions were right, the Maze could provide a platform for a wind farm powerful enough to supply a city the size of Lisburn, but we need to take a very close look at the feasibility of such a project first”.
His comments came as the public were being asked for ideas on how to regenerate the former top security prison which held hundreds of top republican and loyalist terrorists until its closure in September 2000.
A consultation process on the future of the jail and neighbouring army camp - also closed down – was launched tonight.
The Maze Consultation Panel, set up by the British government, was holding a first public meeting to garner views of what to do with the 360 site.
The prison was shut as a result of the Good Friday Agreement and the lands handed over to the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister for development.
Sinn Féin has proposed preserving at least part of the former jail as a museum - and said it would be a crowd puller producing valuable revenues.
Industrial and commercial use was also a possibility, but its close proximity to Lisburn city centre and a major out of town shopping complex could rule out retail use on the grounds of competition and damage to existing businesses.
