Meeting the carbon challenge

Ireland’s dependency on fossil fuels and energy imports is quite startling. At present, some 95 per cent of energy consumed in Ireland comes from fossils fuels, while we are dependent on imports for some 88 per cent of our energy requirements at an annual cost approaching €5 billion. This places Ireland’s various climate change commitments in context – in particular the objective of taking 90 per cent of carbon consumed out of the economy by 2050.

“Climate change is perhaps our greatest global challenge,” says Caroline Spillane, director general of Engineers Ireland. “As part of our international obligations to future generations, Ireland is committed to a series of EU targets on renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Achieving these targets is a necessary first step in a much more ambitious transition to a low-carbon society by 2050.”

She believes those 2020 targets are likely to be missed. “While we have made substantial progress in the area of renewable electricity generation, projections for the heating and transport sectors put us well behind targets – we are unlikely to meet our overall 16 per cent renewable energy target by 2020. Similarly, our energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals are likely to be missed, the latter by a very significant margin.”

Missing these targets will mean that Ireland could incur fines of up to €610 million each year, Spillane adds. “We are also missing out on the opportunities arising from the co-benefits of climate action, such as cleaner air, more efficient manufacturing systems, and more secure energy supplies.”

This will require a rapid shift to low-carbon energy, according to ESB executive director of innovation Paul Mulvaney. “The only way Ireland can hit its targets, and they are binding targets, is to use low carbon electricity and use it for heat and transportation,” he says.

SEAI chief executive Jim Gannon agrees. “We are extremely dependent on energy imports into the country and our energy is very carbon intensive as well. Electricity, heating, and transportation fuels – you have to consider all three. It’s easy to focus on electricity but it’s about all three really. One of the key trends we see is the electrification of heating and transport. A lot of new build homes are using electric heating and there is a move to electric vehicles around the world. The importance of electricity will grow.”

Growing demand is another aspect of the issue which must be taken into account, according to KPMG partner Mike Hayes. “We face the challenge of reducing our dependence on oil at the same time as our power needs are increasing,” he says.

He cites two key drivers behind the increasing demand. The first is natural expansion of the corporate sector, coupled with the needs of the growing number of power-hungry datacentres in Ireland. These datacentres almost universally demand that their power supplies come from renewable sources and Hayes believes that planning and other policy issues need to be addressed in order to speed up the development of renewable energy projects.

“The other big driver, and it is not as far away as people think, is electric cars,” he contends. “Where are we going to get the extra electricity from if we are not going to power them with petrol and diesel. We are not even close to generating enough. The laws of supply and demand will come into play and increased demand and a shortage of supply will inevitably drive up prices.”

This adds further urgency to the green power agenda.

Generating more electricity from wind and other renewable sources is only part of the solution, Mulvaney points out. “The fact that low-carbon sources are not dispatchable is an issue,” he says. That’s energy industry jargon for there when you want it. “They are variable. Wind, solar, ocean – they are all variable. To cope with that, we need to do work on the system itself. We need a smart infrastructure to be able to accommodate these sources.”

He believes there are four elements involved in the journey to the low carbon future. “The first is the very large industrial users who are emissions trading scheme (ETS) members. They have a cap and trade mechanism and are on a trajectory towards zero carbon by 2050,” he notes. “The second is agriculture and this will prove very difficult when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions because of the nature of Irish farming.

“The third area is transportation and we can do something about this. We need to replace fossil fuels in transport. We have the Dart and the Luas electrified already and we have a very good charging infrastructure in place for e-cars. The other piece is heating and cooling and we need to electrify those as well.”

He sees wind and solar playing a big part in the move to low carbon. “The cost of solar is dropping very quickly. People tend not to think so but Ireland has a solar resource, particularly in the southern part of the country. We have a solar scheme in place with Electric Ireland and we also have a joint venture with Kingspan putting solar panels on the roofs of industrial buildings. We are also working with Bord na Mona on projects to generate solar power on their land. Wind is part of the solution as well. It’s primarily onshore at present but offshore will play a part in future. And we have hydro as well, of course – Ardnacrusha is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.”

Advances in storage technology will address the variability issue and ESB has been in this area for many years. “We already have Turlough Hill,” says Mulvaney. “But we see the future more in terms of batteries. We offer funded battery solutions to businesses as part of our Smart Energy offering.”

Hayes believes that bioenergy will have a role to play as well, with Bord na Mona having announced a bioenergy strategy only recently. “Lots of other companies are getting into it and the Government is on the point of announcing a renewable heat incentive scheme.”

Offshore wind is coming to the point of viability as well, according to Hayes. “This could have a transformative impact and it’s not fully understood at the moment. The cost is falling and projects are becoming viable.”

Viability will depend on what Hayes describes as a “sensible tariff”, the price the grid operator pays for the power supplied. He points out that Ireland is the only country in Northern Europe which hasn’t developed offshore wind and that our resources in this regard present some very real opportunities with international capital waiting in the wings to fund wind projects here.

“The offshore wind industry could create huge opportunities for additional services. Look at the job creation on the east coast of Scotland which resulted from the oil industry there. Onshore wind could create the same opportunity for Ireland.”

Jim Gannon of SEAI sees home solar PV and energy storage as key enabling technologies for the low-carbon future. “There will be a convergence of technology around the consumer. There will still be large scale electricity generation but we are going to see much greater levels of home generation and storage. The consumer will play a lot bigger part in electricity market than before. The EU is certainly moving in that direction. EU clean energy policy will give consumers a right to smart meters, a right to export electricity to the grid, and a right to a fair price for it. Consumers can use electric cars to store electricity and sell it back to the grid later. A nationwide fleet of electric vehicles can be used as a distributed battery to store very large amounts of electricity. That is achievable in practical terms.”

Ireland may not be rich in fossil fuel resources but when it comes to renewables we have vast reserves that can be tapped, into which can not only help the country achieve its 2050 decarbonisation target, but also create a vibrant and valuable energy export sector.