Wind farms - what bang do we get for our buck? Economist Colm Mc Carthy, writing in the Sunday Independent this week, points out that in Ireland we are paying 20% over the EU average for electricity, with further increases to come. At a time of falling wholesale gas prices, this increase is largely used to subsidise peat which produces the most CO2 of any electricity source here, as well as wind farms with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions! Misguided EU policy allied with the shale gas revolution resulting in cheap coal has now caused a perverse situation whereby gas, the most efficient source of clean electricity in Ireland, is being disincentivised in favour of coal, peat and wind farms. Wind energy on the Irish grid has been an unmitigated waste of time, reducing our CO2 emissions by less than 2.6% and our fuel imports by 2.3%. This at the massive cost of the destruction of our landscape, the increase in electricity prices and the effects on families who have to live close to turbines. Eirgrid have stated that as we increase the amount of intermittant wind on our grid we can expect it to displace less and less conventional generating plant because we cannot risk blackouts. Wind farms, according to Eirgrid, will have a “capacity credit” of a mere 12% in 2015. That is, if a wind farm is capable of producing a maximum of 100MW of electricity only 12MW of conventional generation could be replaced. In other words, although it might well displace gas or oil generation when it is operating, you cannot rely on it to meet demand at a specific time. Therefore, you need plenty of standby! This devaluing of capacity will become more and more of an issue as more wind is connected. The first wind farms are easy to accommodate. It becomes more and more difficult as the wind contribution grows. This means that the incremental value of wind diminishes as the amount of wind capacity increases. An example of how little analysis has gone into this incoherent energy policy is the proposed development of a controversial 50 x 185m turbine wind farm by Element Power in Co. Meath. This large scale industrial development could replace a mere 0.3% of our dependence on conventional plant, while still receiving substantial subsidies - an enormous waste of resources for very little gain. In this time of unprecedented economic pressure, value for money in all departments of government is essential. This ill-conceived and contradictory energy policy is not merely wasting resources which could be put to better use, but is clearly damaging our economy through increasing electricity prices when competitiveness should be our goal. Huge savings can be made should the new cabinet and specifically our new Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources decide to ask the hard questions in energy policy.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 09:41:04 +0000