First proposed three years ago, the Spirit of Ireland project aims to turn the country into a net exporter of electricity by using pump storage systems located in coastal regions

ONE OF THE biggest renewable energy projects every conceived of in this country is the Spirit of Ireland. First proposed three years ago, it envisages using coastal-based pump storage facilities to turn Ireland into a net exporter of electricity.

The proposal, which was first conceived by TCD Professor of Applied Physics Igor Shvets, seeks to resolve the biggest issues facing those involved in wind generated electricity, namely what to do when the wind is not blowing.

Some 50 potential sites have been located along Ireland’s Atlantic coast. The Spirit of Ireland would use the excess energy generated by several large wind farms to pump seawater up to a reservoir at the top of a cliff.

The water is released when the wind is slack, turning a turbine which generates huge amounts of electricity.

Pump storage is a proven technology that is used in countries such as Italy and Japan to generate electricity. There is a small one at Turlough Hill in Co Wicklow.

What puts the Spirit of Ireland on another level is the use of seawater for electricity generation.

The proposal is still in the planning stages, but the backers of Spirit of Ireland are hoping that it will be the largest part of a mosaic of interlocking renewable energy projects in the future.

The overall cost of the project is estimated at €3.6 billion. The first round of sourcing funding has been taking place over the last month and it is hoped to raise seed capital which will be used to fund environmental assessments and initial outlines of the Spirit of Ireland project with the aim to have it built within five to six years.

In the meantime, the Spirit of Ireland group has set up Irish Energy Co-operatives. The purpose behind the project is to form a network of community-based renewable energy initiatives to feed into a common grid.

Irish Energy Co-operatives spokesman Cormac Walsh says the aim is to keep electricity generated locally within the local community.

“The local producer-owner model is as good as any other when it comes to maximising employment and RD opportunities of renewable energy – it shouldn’t only be a question of local communities leasing their land to big developer-owned renewables projects,” he says.

“Well planned, medium-scale projects that will attract innovation will keep the secondary benefits of renewable energy in the control of local communities. This is just as important as the big multi-million euro projects.”

The first of these was created last month with the establishment of Fuinneamh Oileáin Árann Comharchumann Teoranta (Aran Islands Energy Co-operative).

The Aran Islands has had a long history of self-reliance. It is hoped not only to make the islands self-sufficient in electricity but to create a hot bed of technological experimentation.

The Aran Islands currently has three wind turbines on Inis Meáin which are not in use. It is hoped that the Aran Islands energy co-op will be able to team up with the new owners of the turbines.

The plan is to upgrade the present turbines and add more over time.

The Aran Islands has high wind speeds, but it is also an ideal test bed for wind and wave technology.

“We’re hoping to attract technologies that are quite near completion,” says Walsh. “Those companies will develop projects in conjunction with the Aran co-op and licence these projects throughout the world.

“You’re ending up with more employment and more possibilities on the island. You’re securing it all with cheap renewable energy,” he says.

The conditions are very similar to those found in the North Sea, so it is envisaged that UK, Norwegian and Danish renewable energy projects will be encouraged to set up on the islands.

The backers of the new co-op hope that if the island becomes self-sufficient in energy and can generate a cheaper price for itself, it can provide a commercial advantage for energy-hungry companies to come and set up there.

The new energy co-op will be open to membership from those who are normally resident on any of the Aran Islands. It will also be possible for groups, organisations, and corporate bodies to buy membership shares in the co-op provided they are based on one of the three islands.

The new co-op aims to secure the future energy needs of the Aran Islands by gaining a controlling interest in the local sources of alternative energy production.

It also seeks to reduce and gradually remove the dependency of the Aran Islands communities on fossil fuels by replacing them with alternative and more sustainable sources of energy.

The new co-op aims to achieve this by providing low-cost energy to industry so as to create employment on the islands and by facilitating and at least part-owning initiatives and projects in research and development into sustainable energy.

For instance, an energy-dependent food company, which uses electricity to heat its greenhouses, might find that working on the Aran Islands will save it money in the long term.

Opportunities to provide education and training to both residents and non-residents in sustainable living are also envisaged.

As part of the experimental nature of the co-operative partnership, a Living Energy Technology Laboratory will be set up.

Pat Gill, one of the engineers behind the Spirit of Ireland project, describes it as a “positive ground-upwards response to the Government’s stated energy and economic policy statements and as such we expect that state and governmental agencies will do all in their power to assist us in our efforts to bring the smart economy into reality for ordinary citizens”.

The chairman of the Aran Islands co-op Dara Ó Maoildhia said the project had the “enthusiastic support of the islanders”.

The plan to make the Aran Islands a laboratory for sustainable energy comes as a sequel to a pilot project funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.