Sir, – The current prolonged spell of good weather has exposed in stark relief the Achilles heel of wind as a reliable source of renewable energy.
High barometric pressure for the last month or so continues to ensure beautiful summer weather, combined, however, with little or no wind, resulting in an inevitable amber energy alert last Monday.
Daily data from the Eirgrid Smart Dashboard (smartgriddashboard.com) shows that wind produced only 5 per cent of our electricity demand of around 5 GW, with 95 per cent of our energy generated by oil, natural gas, coal and imports over the period.
Similar weather conditions over three months of last summer showed Ireland’s wind energy hovering between 2 per cent to 5 per cent over the period, with the grid again relying heavily on oil, natural gas and coal as well as imports.
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It is foolish and irresponsible for the Coalition to put all its energy eggs in the wind basket, given its unreliability.
Irrespective of whatever installed capacity of offshore and onshore wind Ireland manages to achieve in future, a similar capacity of back-up oil and gas (or nuclear) will be required to cover the increasingly frequent and prolonged outages of wind energy.
Those contemplating purchase of a new car should be aware that all electric vehicles on Irish roads are currently being charged from fossil fuels in the absence of wind, including the 11 hugely proclaimed and expensive electric buses in Athlone, adding substantially to Ireland’s carbon emissions and air pollution.
Ireland’s energy security is on a knife edge due to the Coalition’s irrational policy of over-reliance on wind.
Its refusal to allow liquid natural gas storage and failure to grant a licence extensions for the Inishkea gas field near Corrib and the Barryroe independently proven prospect off the Cork coast are irresponsible, as development of both these fields would afford us energy security for decades to come. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LEAHY,
Cork.
Sir, – As data centres now consume as much electricity as our homes (“Cap on data centres ruled out despite surge in energy use”, News, June 13th), Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney says “the challenge is to find a way of powering them with sustainable and abundant power by capturing the potential, in particular, of offshore wind”. This is more constructive than opposition politicians’ calls for data centres to be restricted and expert opinion that our industrial policy is not aligned with our environmental aspirations.
Given that we’ve just had our first electricity warning of 2023, caused partly by a lack of wind in the current still conditions, and that Ireland is projected to miss our 2025 and 2030 emissions targets even if we fully implement all new proposed policies, perhaps it is time to face up to the need to include more clean options in our energy policy if we are to meet our targets for 2040 and beyond? Expert opinion could have it the wrong way around on this occasion: it appears that it is our environmental policy that is not aligned with our industrial aspirations.
Certainly, develop offshore wind and solar energy to their optimum, knowing these alone will not satisfy our need for clean, reliable and affordable energy.
Time will tell whether proposed solutions, including hydrogen and battery energy storage, will be as technically achievable or as economic as is hoped, but it would be prudent to understand all clean energy alternatives for comparison.
Many EU and other countries find that significant developments in small nuclear reactors that are now coming to market in the West will allow them to retain energy-rich, sustainable societies at lower cost. Farmers, industry and society in general stand to gain from these developing policy decisions, even in countries with excellent wind regimes.
No solution is perfect, but it is time for Ireland to understand the implications of adding an appropriate amount of clean, small nuclear plants to our wind and solar resources, so that we can make an informed decision on our path to sustainability.
How long must we observe current policy failing by increasing amounts before we start to investigate whether Plan B might be helpful? – Yours, etc,
DENIS DUFF, C Eng,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Given the windfall budget surplus in 2022 was predominantly due to tax collected from companies with high data storage demands, surely the Government should be subsidising the household cost of energy due to the fact we have such a demand of energy from data centres on our grids.
Keeping it for a rainy day and having the regular consumer pay the higher cost from net pay is counterintuitive. – Yours, etc,
FRANK DALY,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.