Tipperary trailblazer John Fogarty has received a big award for his work on renewable energy – or more specifically, wind farms.

Fogarty is a co-founder of Templederry wind farm and Community Power and has been awarded the Roger Léron Award for Longstanding Achievement by the European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and the Environment. He has spent over two decades advocating for a transformative vision: that Irish communities not only generate renewable energy but also own and benefit directly from it. His leadership in launching Templederry wind farm, Ireland’s first community-owned wind farm, and trying to expand that model nationally through Community Power, was described as both “pioneering and inspirational”. Given the difficulties facing such developments, it’s almost a wonder it ever got off the ground in the first place. Power to them.