HARNESSING wind to generate electricity will expand significantly this year, a conference on wind energy in Galway heard at the weekend.
But the Minister of State for Energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, criticised industry delegates for their slow take up of the opportunities available under the Department's AER III programme.
This includes a commitment, for the first time, of third party access to the national grid. This means the ESB's monopoly in selling electricity is coming to an end. "You should be knocking down the doors of my Department looking for details," Mr Stagg told the delegates, "but you are not." According to the chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Association, Mr Paul Dowling, electricity made from the wind in Ireland will rise from 6.5 mw to about 50 mw by the end of the year.
This falls short of the 90 mw target set by the Minister and is explained by several failed projects. They include the plan for Sliabh na mBan in Co Tipperary, which is unlikely to proceed because of strong local opposition.
Proposed Donegal projects include a 15 mw wind farm in Barnesmore Gap, two 7.5 mw projects at Cark and Tullytresna, and a 5 mw project on Drumlough Hill near Moville on the Inishowen peninsula. With a name like Gaoth Dobhair, "windy torrents", it is no surprise that Gweedore is earmarked for a 3.5 mw project.
Other wind farms planned for the west include a 6.5 mw project near Arigna on the Leitrim Roscommon border and a 4.8 mw project at Carrowmore, near Spanish Point in Co Clare.
This growth mirrors international expansion in the sector, which has expanded by about 20 per cent each year since the start of the 1990s. According to a spokesman for the European Wind Energy Association, Mr Soren Krohn, this growth should continue in the long term, helped by a continuing fall in the cost of wind energy technology.
One intriguing development is the possibility of offshore "wind parks", with turbines anchored on the seabed. Recent Danish engineering studies seem to indicate that the cost of offshore installations can be considerably reduced by using steel foundations rather than concrete.
Other studies have found that more wind energy is available offshore than previously thought, leading to a recalibration of the wind atlas. The generation of electricity in offshore wind parks at depths up to 15 metres now seems so attractive that Danish electricity companies are planning for a series of 150 mw parks in Danish waters.