At the end of spring there was a high-level diplomatic meeting held in London between the UK deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg and senior members of the British-Irish Council. The purpose was to discuss a plan to expand electricity grid connections throughout the British Isles. The core of the plan is to facilitate new connections to link the grids of Ireland and Britain so that Irish wind farms can supply power to England and other nations.
Sleahead beach on the Dingle peninsula in Kerry, West coast of Ireland, where fierce winds make suitable for turbines.
“The west coast of Ireland has some of the fiercest winds in Europe,” said Charles Hendry, the UK energy minister, who was at the meeting. “They whip in off the Atlantic which makes it an ideal location for wind farms. However, the Irish market for electricity is less than a tenth of that of Britain. That means that companies cannot afford to build wind farms in Ireland because there is no market for their power. We want to put that right.”
The construction of wind farms in Ireland that would supply power to neighbouring countries could help to put the UK back on track in its use of clean, renewable energy. Britain has been criticised for falling short of its targets for constructing wind power plants and for cutting its carbon emissions. Importing clean power could help to resolve the problem. A link connecting the grids of Ireland and Britain is currently under construction and will stretch from Rush North Beach, Co Fingal, to Barkby Beach, north Wales. The Irish Sea Inter-Connector will cost £500m and have a capacity of 500 megawatts. But other new links would also be built. This would open up a market for electricity for wind farms on the west coast of Ireland whose power could be transmitted under the Irish Sea.
The prospect of giant turbines peppering the wild, craggy coasts of the Dingle Peninsula, Kerry and Galway provoked a furious response from those that want the coast to remain unspoilt. However Hendry said “It will be up to the Irish government and the Irish people to decide if they want to build them. This is a voluntary programme and it could bring significant wealth to the country with very little downside.”
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,
Detailed analysis is being carried out over the next 15 months with the aim of turning them into specific projections that could be launched in 2013. Most would see the fact that Ireland is the EU’s windiest country as a blessing and a source of natural energy potential to be exploited, so as to benefit Ireland and neighbouring countries.
