British Irish Council - Renewable energy

[saoró...]

Supprised this hasnt appeared here yet, slightly old news but could greatly benefit the whole island...

British Government to subsidise Irish Wind Energy Industry

Proposals for Ireland to export 5,000 MW of wind power to Britain

Trade News | 20 Jun 2011 : Ireland's West Coast is known for its rugged scenery and breathtaking natural landscape, but that could soon change. The west of Ireland could be the site of a new wave of wind farm construction if the British government presses ahead with proposals to support installations in Ireland.


Britain believes that the coast could be utilised to generated vast amounts of wind energy and is in negotiations with representatives from the Irish government about subsidising the building of wind farms in the region.


Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte and UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will be gathering today for talks at a meeting of the British Irish Council. The council will be discussing proposals for a new series of wind farms and inter-connectors to link the electricity grids of Ireland and Britain in order to help generate power for Ireland and the UK.


Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) which is meeting with the British Irish Council has announced that Ireland's immersion into wind energy exporting could create thousands of jobs and support an ailing Irish economy.


The project could see Ireland reaching its 2020 renewable targets of 4,500 MW from renewable sources while exporting a further 5,000 MW in wind power to Britain. Domestic industry groups in Ireland have argued that the project could be worth an estimated €1.6 billion to the Irish economy,


British Energy Minister Charles Hendry is in favour of the proposals, he has commented to the media that, "the west coast of Ireland has some of the fiercest winds in Europe, "they whip in off the Atlantic which means it is an ideal location for windfarms."


Hendry added that "the Irish market for electricity is less than a tenth of that of Britain. That means that companies cannot afford to build windfarms in Ireland because there is no market for their power. We want to put that right."


Dr Michael Walsh chief executive of IWEA has welcomed the news stating that, "the UK government has clearly recognised that we have one of the best wind resources in the world and that we have the potential to support their renewable energy requirements through interconnections between here and the UK."


Dr Walsh argues that Britain would benefit considerably from such renewable energy imports, and would aid the government in reaching its target of 15% of all energy from renewable means by 2020.


While there has been little opposition in Ireland to date there has been strong opposition to such proposals in Britain in the past. Opponents have argued that wind turbines rarely work to capacity, spoil natural landscapes and can have a devastating effect on local bird populations.


Recently there has been protest by Welsh farmers to limit the number of wind farms in the region, claiming that the wind turbines have negative effects on the local communities and environment.

Read more: http://www.techcentral.ie/article.as...#ixzz1QwnrLdhs

[Catmalojin]

This would benefit both countries hugely, and through Britain excess electricity could also be exported to mainland Europe as well.

The East-West Interconnector will make it possible for us to import electricity from Britain (hopefully making it cheaper!), but it would be great to actually export it in a few years.

Does this relate to the Spirit of Ireland proposals at all, anyone know?

[hypnotoad24]

Originally Posted by Catmalojin

Does this relate to the Spirit of Ireland proposals at all, anyone know?

I don't think the proposal is related to Spirit of Ireland- from what i remember reading about it in papers from time to time, the main focus of Spirit of Ireland was a massive pumped storage scheme on the West of Ireland somewhere.

A little bit on if from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Ireland

Originally Posted by Catmalojin

The East-West Interconnector will make it possible for us to import electricity from Britain (hopefully making it cheaper!), but it would be great to actually export it in a few years.

It certainly should make prices a bit cheaper! Since the Irish Single Electricity Market is both small and isolated, having an extra interconnector, in addition to the one from NI - Scotland, will mean Ireland is more likely to be importing more from the larger British market for a few years yet. But as you say, years down the line, we could well be exporting, given the vast renewable sources here.

The only issue is the massive amount of money needed to be spent to get the electricity grid up to scratch to export all the renewable energy... take a look at some of the figures in here:

http://www.eirgrid.com/media/Grid%2025.pdf

Originally Posted by Catmalojin

This would benefit both countries hugely, and through Britain excess electricity could also be exported to mainland Europe as well.

Indeed- there are wildly ambitious plans in place to massively strengthen connections between countries in Europe- some of which can be seen on this map:

https://www.entsoe.eu/fileadmin/user...rojects_LT.pdf

further information here too:

https://www.entsoe.eu/index.php?id=282

[Catmalojin]

Relevant:

Record output for Irish wind farms

06/11/2011 - 10:18:56

Eirgrid, the operators of the national transmission grid, has said today that it has reached a new record in the output of Ireland's wind farms.

The group has revealed that the amount of power generated through wind last Wednesday evening was 1,412 megawatts.

That i's enough power to supply the equivalent of 918,000 homes across the country.

Eirgrid hopes to expand the number of wind farms in Ireland over the next five years, with plans to export power to neighbouring Wales.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/r...#ixzz1cvL7h5TW

[JD47]

This is a great idea and what Ireland really needs.
Ireland has all this potential of its cost for wind, gas and oil.
If we were to get these plans in motion we could see an end to
the recession soon.
The goverment needs to get of their backsides and get this going.

[hypnotoad24]

This seemed the most appropriate place to post this. A new report out this week has claimed that the cost of undergrounding the new interconnector between Ireland and Northern Ireland would be €330 million extra than by building with conventional overhead tower lines.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16601620

This development is absolutely vital in ensuring renewable energy targets are met by 2020 - both NI and RoI have a target of 40% of electricity from renewables (the most ambitious in Europe- all the more remarkable given that we are on a small island whereas everywhere else but GB is part of a massive interconnected continental network), and the current network is not capable of accepting anywhere near that penetration of renewable energy. The new interconnector will allow for much larger transfers of energy between NI and RoI. As an example, there is a huge amount of wind power to be connected in NI over the next few years, and the extra interconnection capacity means that this could be shared out over the whole island, especially given that on some days it could be windy in NI, but less so elsewhere. This renewable energy in NI can then be safely shared over the island, as opposed to constraining it off.

Indeed, the current limitations are causing customers on the island to be paying somewhere in the region of €25 -€30 million extra per year. As wind renewable penetration increases, this will only get worse. At some point the constant cycle of appeal after appeal needs to stop and this thing needs built. (interestingly, the original projected completion date for this project was this year!) At the end of the day, the people paying for this will be electricity customers in NI and RoI- do people really want to spend all that extra money just to put some cables underground?

Something worth looking at is the ISLES project, which envisages many newconections between Ireland and Great Britain. There are some good presentations here showing some potential developments- it's certainly very ambitious!

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Bu.../presentations

[Catmalojin]

More on this:

Republic could supply renewable power to UK

BARRY O'HALLORAN

Tue, May 29, 2012

TALKS ON a deal that could open up Britain’s electricity market to exports from renewable generators in the Republic will take place next month, according to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte.

Mr Rabbitte launched the Government’s Strategy for Renewable Energy 2012-2020, which covers wind power, bio energy, wave and tidal power and research and development, in Dublin yesterday.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Rabbitte said that he will be meeting UK energy minister Charles Hendry next month for talks on an agreement that will allow renewable energy generators in the Republic to export power to Britain.

The agreement will cover electricity generated both onshore and offshore.

The Minister suggested that, in coming years, the Republic could end up exporting the same amount of electricity that it consumes every year to Britain.

The two ministers have already discussed opening Britain’s electricity market to generators operating in the Republic.

During a visit to Dublin last year, Mr Hendry said that his government would welcome Irishgenerated power.

Electricity supplies in Britain are coming under increasing pressure as one in four of its generating plants are reaching the end of their useful lives while demand for power is likely to increase.

Mr Rabbitte pointed out that before the Republic can begin exporting renewable power to Britain on a large scale, the two governments will have to conclude a trade agreement.

Industry bodies such as National Offshore Wind Ireland say that such an agreement would boost investment and job creation in the Republic.

The organisation yesterday welcomed the Minister’s comments and predicted that offshore wind will be “a major export resource” with markets available to it in Britain and northern Europe.

The strategy document points out that green energy and clean technology already support an estimated 19,000 jobs in the Republic.

Last year, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, an advisory body set up in 1997, said that an extra 10,000 jobs could be created in the sector by 2015 if the Government were to adopt appropriate policies.

Mr Rabbitte stressed yesterday that investment in the national electricity network will have to continue.

He said that while some critics argue that the State should step back from this during an economic downturn, he takes the opposite view, as this is a long-term investment.

Eirgrid, the State company that operates the national electricity grid, plans to spend €400 million on improving and expanding the network in the southeast and €280 million in the west.

The Republic has agreed with the EU that, by 2020, 40 per cent of all electricity consumed here will be generated from renewable power.

Mr Rabbitte said that the Government remains committed to that target.

The Republic uses between 6,000 megawatts and 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Wind farms have the capacity to generate over 1,600 megawatts of this.

Irish Wind Energy Association chief executive Kenneth Matthews said it was heartening to see that the strategy’s goals included a commitment to increasing the amount of electricity generated by onshore and offshore wind.

© 2012 The Irish Times

Answer to exporting power has been blowing in the wind

BARRY O'HALLORAN

Tue, May 29, 2012

THE IDEA that harnessing wind energy could allow the Republic to generate enough electricity to export power to Britain has been around for some time.

Previous ministers such as Eamon Ryan and Noel Dempsey have talked about it. But Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte could make it a reality.

Not surprisingly, lobby groups such as the Irish Wind Energy Association and National Offshore Wind Ireland say it will deliver big benefits in terms of investment and job creation.

At this stage the benefits are hard to predict. Mr Rabbitte yesterday suggested that Ireland could end up selling 6,000-7,000 megawatts a year to Britain.

The association said if that were achieved between now and 2025, it would result in an investment of €1.7 million-€2.7 million for each megawatt, a total over 13 years of €10 billion-€19 billion.

That would depend on building enough wind farms to deliver that amount of electricity, which in turn would require up to 3,000 wind turbines.

If it does happen, much of the development is likely to take place offshore, with the turbines built in Irish waters and connected directly to the British electricity grid. The question is whether the industry will invest in such projects. Given the reactions of the lobby groups, the answer is yes.

That could be a qualified yes. Most countries provide some support or subsidy to renewable energy. However, Mr Rabbitte is not going to extend the price supports available for onshore wind to offshore operators. (The existing subsidy will cost Irish consumers €32 million this year).

One of the issues the two governments have to sort out is whether Irish operators selling power to Britain could benefit from their subsidies.

If this were the case, then it is very likely that investors would step up. If not, then they may not be so willing to spend their money.

© 2012 The Irish Times