Madam, – Tony Kinsella and Ray Kinsella (Opinion, May 11th) are both correct in highlighting the opportunity for Ireland to become a major producer and exporter of wind-, wave- and tide-generated electricity. Tony Kinsella calls for investment in the creation of a sophisticated European electricity grid and he cites the example of how Denmark is already linked to the sophisticated Nordic grid.
A major question arising from any proposal to integrate more renewable energy sources into our electricity system is how the resulting electricity will be transmitted from the wind-, wave- and tide- rich Western coasts to the Eastern part of the country, for use there and onward interconnection to other EU member-states?
Denmark has given Ireland a clear lead in this respect. Since November 2008, there is a political consensus there that all future high voltage electricity lines will be built as underground cables. In March of this year, the Danish transmission system organisation (TSO), Energinet.dk, announced an action plan to put most of the country’s existing lower voltage system underground as well. TSOs in the Netherlands and northern Germany are moving in a similar direction.
Their reason for moving away from pylons and overhead lines is popular opposition, and following a detailed high-level technical study last year, Energinet.dk was satisfied that the integration of new underground alternating current (AC) cables into their national grid is technically feasible, affordable, safe and reliable. The lesson for promoters of “green” energy in Ireland seems obvious. – Yours, etc,