Why wind is the answer to Ireland’s energy question

Opinion: ‘We in the wind energy industry will have to continue working hard to assuage the understandable if often misplaced concerns of the public around the impact of renewable energy infrastructure’

Ireland, like the rest of the world, is at a crossroads regarding its energy future. The policy choices we make now will reverberate into the future and have an impact on generations to come.

Concern is growing internationally about the wavering commitment to stave off climate change. Ahead of last week’s UN climate summit, some of the world’s top business and political figures called for responsible action to tackle climate change. Addressing the summit, Taoiseach Enda Kenny called for leaders to “show conviction, clarity, courage and consistency” in addressing the issue. These are encouraging words, which must be translated into action at home.

The challenge for most countries is how to deliver a secure supply of energy to meet growing needs and drive economic prosperity, while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions to limit the impact of climate change.

Unlike most other countries, however, Ireland has an obvious solution. We are fortunate and exceptional in having an abundant renewable resource that presents us with an unrivalled opportunity to deliver sustainable energy for future generations while at the same time delivering significant economic benefits.

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If Ireland was to build the required additional wind-energy capacity to meet its 2020 targets, the most conservative estimate shows that this would deliver investment of more than €3.5 billion into the Irish economy, significantly reduce Ireland’s CO2 emissions and reduce our costly dependency on foreign energy, saving the country €282 million in 2020 in fossil-fuel imports.

Vision required

The choice seems clear, but as Ireland decides on its energy future on the back of the Government’s recent Green Paper, true vision, leadership and commitment is required from all interested parties.

We in the wind-energy industry will have to continue working hard to assuage the understandable, if often misplaced, concerns of the public about the impact of renewable-energy infrastructure. We have lived with renewable energy in this country since the 1990s and those with the greatest concerns are not necessarily those living near windfarms. Fear of the unknown appears to be more widespread than familiarity with the facts, a situation we will continue to seek to address as an industry.

Our policymakers need to tread carefully around any changes to the current planning guidelines relating to renewable-energy development. Any perceived short-term political gains these changes might offer would be far outweighed by the long-term damage to Ireland’s ability to develop new wind-energy projects and attract the private-sector investment required to develop this growing industry, which already employs 3,400 here. Certainty about the current guidelines, among the most rigorous in Europe, is essential, and any tinkering would be short-sighted.

Linked to this point, it should be remembered that the investment required to integrate enough wind energy on to the Irish grid system to deliver on our 2020 targets would be achieved at no extra cost to Irish consumers. And wholesale electricity prices in Ireland would be lower.

Apart from delivering on our current commitments, to fully live up to the Taoiseach’s words, we will need to commit to new targets beyond 2020.

Energy- dependent

Worryingly, Ireland is the fourth most energy-dependent member state in the EU, behind Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus, with an import-dependency rate of 85 per cent. We cannot sustain our economy on this basis, as we would always be a hostage to fluctuations in the supply and price of other imported fuels.

Ireland should be embracing the fact that we have one of the most reliable sources of renewable energy, which currently supplies enough electricity to power up to 1.3 million of our homes. There have been many occasions in the past year when wind energy has produced enough power to meet 50 per cent of the Irish electricity demand.

Potential alternatives often cited by critics of wind include nuclear energy, fracking or large-scale biomass. Apart from the potential risks posed by some of these solutions, they are simply inferior, either extremely costly or unviable.

Our energy future is in all our hands. We should not squander the opportunity.

Kenneth Matthews is chief executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association