Ireland in need of wind and solar farms as coal-burning era ends

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

Ireland's 40-year-long era of burning coal - the dirtiest fossil fuel imaginable - to generate electricity came to an end in June.
That was when ESB announced it had ceased burning coal at its Moneypoint power station in Co Clare, six months ahead of schedule.
Throughout those 40 years, the coal was transferred on noisy conveyer belts through what must surely have been the longest, ugliest, sequence of brown tunnels in the country.
They ran from the jetty at Moneypoint where the coal ships pulled up, to a huge coal storage yard, and then right into the powerplant and furnaces for generate electricity.
Now those conveyer belts have stopped, there's no coal in the yard, the highly credible transformation of Moneypoint into a green energy hub is well underway, and the post-coal era in Ireland has begun.
July was the first month, after 40 years that coal has not featured in Ireland's electricity fuel mix.
Official figures for the month from Eirgrid show renewable energy is quickly filling the gap left by coal.
New milestones were passed last month for the contribution of solar power to Ireland's energy mix.
A new record of 798 megawatts of electricity from grid-connected solar farms in Ireland was set.
That is four percent more solar power than ever before, indicating that a solar power revolution in Ireland is continuing at pace.
Ireland now has over 1.6 gigawatts of solar PV capacity installed. It is the fastest growing renewable electricity source in the country.
A new report from the Government Taskforce on Accelerating Renewable Electricity, published this week, said solar power is highly complementary to wind generation, provides a more stable and balanced energy supply over time, and is rapidly transforming Ireland's energy system.
The official figures show that close to six percent of all the electricity used in Ireland in July this year was supplied directly from the sun.
The fact that so much power from the sun can be harnessed in the Irish climate through photovoltaic panels that have no moving parts, require virtually no maintenance, and are cheap and quick to install is nothing short of a miracle to someone like me who grew up in the age of coal.
Imagine that. Six percent of all our electricity from the sun! And we are only at the beginning of this solar revolution. It is mind-blowing really, if we are honest.
It shows that the technology required to transform our energy system and make our lives cleaner and better is already here. We just need to enable it, speed it up, and embrace the system transformations required.
Unfortunately, however, that is where Ireland appears to be falling behind. We are far too slow at letting it happen.
Wind Energy Ireland expressed huge frustration over this same issue this week - the blockage and slow pace of technological enablement and decision making in Ireland.
Eirgrid's figures show wind energy supplied 24 percent of electricity last month - a little over four times more than solar power at the height of summer.
Ireland reached a major milestone in January this year, with just over five gigawatts of wind generating capacity installed.
It was a significant step towards achieving the official target of renewable sources supplying 80 percent of electricity demand by 2030.
Currently, taking all 12 months together, wind power alone supplies 35 percent of Ireland's electricity.
The official Government target is to have nine gigawatts of wind generating capacity installed by 2030. This is significantly more than the five gigawatts currently in place, so there is no time to waste.
More needed from An Coimisiún Pleanála - WEI
Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) has been crunching the numbers.
They have taken into account the capacity and potential output of wind farms currently under construction, and projects with full planning permission that are likely to be finished and operational by 2030.
Their analysis suggests An Coimisiún Pleanála needs to give planning permission for another 4.2 gigawatts of wind farms before the end of next year if the industry is to have any chance of installing the required capacity by 2030.
To achieve that, they calculate An Coimisiún Pleanála needs to give approval for 595 megawatts of new wind capacity every three months.
That is the pace of approvals it says is needed to achieve the Government's onshore wind target – which, by the way, is the cornerstone of meeting Ireland's legally binding climate obligations. Failure could end up costing the country billions of euros for fines and carbon credits.
What is frustrating WEI is that during the last quarter - the three months to the end of June - An Coimisiún Pleanála approved only two new wind farms with a combined capacity of 79 megawatts between them.
That is just 13 percent of the volume of approvals needed to keep Ireland on track with its Climate Action Plan.
It highlighted also that An Coimisiún rejected planning applications from two wind farms with an estimated combined capacity of 76 megawatts.
In addition, another 31 projects totalling 1,643 megawatts were still awaiting decisions at the end of the quarter.
WEI's big ask is for extra money from the Government in October's Budget, not to be given to themselves but to be give instead to the planning authorities to speed up decision making.
Its Director of External Affairs, Justin Moran, said that at time when Ireland is under threat from tariffs, energy costs and global uncertainty, there is a solution here in Ireland.
"Every wind farm through the planning system and connected to the electricity grid, protects Irish electricity consumers and strengthens Irish energy supply," he said.
He could very easily have swapped solar farms into that sentence because it is the same story there.
Ireland needs more of both - wind farms and solar farms - and it needs them faster, especially now that the post-coal era here has well and truly begun.