Madam, - Dick Keane (July 29th) repeats the oft-bleated nonsense that wind power cannot be stored. The reality is that it is entirely possible to store the power generated by wind. It can be done in a variety of ways, from using excess power to pump water to refill HEP reservoirs, to production of hydrogen, to pumping air into aquifers for storage under very high pressure, to super- heating salt solutions for later use in steam turbines. There are many ways to store wind power. It is a mystery why the likes of Dick Keane keep repeating the nonsense that wind power cannot be stored. The most that can be said in that regard is that currently wind power isn't usually stored, although there are several methods whereby it can be stored. - Yours, etc,
CORMAC MacGOWAN, Craughwell, Co Galway.
Madam, - The website, www.eirgrid.ie, referred to by Dick Keane (July 29th) purports to present information on wind power and the demands on electric power. On turning to it, you find that none of the axes on the graphs there bear labels, units or descriptions of the quantities plotted, and the traces are so incomplete that they express very little.
A school or college report of any student presenting such graphs would rightly merit low marks. We are justifiably concerned at the inadequate mathematical competence of our country's first and second-level students, but wringing our hands over the problem and leaving its solution to teachers does little to resolve it. In this highly technological age I find it hard to sympathise with the "educated" who express a sentiment akin to pride in admitting an inability to solve a mathematical equation, but not in never having seen or read a Shakespeare play.
A fundamental knowledge of science and mathematics is surely a prerequisite for every member of modern society. - Yours, etc,
TONY BLAKE, Summerfield Rise, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.