IRELAND BOOSTS OFFSHORE WIND

While U.S. politicians complain that any requirement to develop New Energy would drive power prices up, European leaders embrace the costs to build a New Energy infrastructure. Their farsightedness perceives what shortsighted U.S. leaders can’t see: Energy prices are certainly going to get higher and there is nothing anybody can do to stop that. By putting a New Energy infrastructure in place, there is a chance to stabilize rising prices instead of letting the same thing happen that has happened to international oil prices.

As a highly placed German government official recently confided to NewEnergyNews, Europe is laughing at the Bush administration’s defense of Old Energy and failure to plan for the future. Europe is struggling to put emissions control mechanisms in place and build wind, wave, solar and biofuel facilities and new transmission now but after 2010 or 2012 it will be enjoying the fruits of its sacrifice while the U.S. will be struggling with skyrocketing energy costs due to higher competition for reduced Old Energy supplies and higher costs associated with emissions-intensive energy.

Fears of wind’s intermittency and lack of storage capacity are subsumed in Ireland’s plan to reproduce the Danish solution by connecting its huge offshore wind resource into the national grid. When the wind is blowing, the grid can consume the energy. When there is a calm, the grid can draw on other sources.

The offshore wind power around the British Isles is awesome. (click to enlarge)

Minister sets offshore wind energy prices
8 February 2008 (RTE Business)
and
Support scheme for windpower
Paul Anderson, 8 February 2008 (Irish Times)

WHO
Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Energy, Communications and Natural Resources, Ireland; National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW Ireland); Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) (Michael Walsh, Chief Executive)

WHAT
Ireland will guarantee a minimum rate of 140 euros per megawatt-hour for offshore wind energy generation. Ireland is also planning new transmission to connect offshore wind energy to the national grid. These measures are expected to spark a 4 billion euro boom in offshore wind development.

All of Europe is building offshore wind as fast as they can get the turbines (which are 1 to 2 years back-ordered). (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Ireland’s goal is to produce 1/3 of its power from New Energy within 15 years. A recent study suggests it could actually get over 40% from New Energy by 2020.
- The guarantee on the feed-in rate will run 15 years.

WHERE
- The offshore grid would be in the Irish Sea. It will be designed in the same way as similar transmission has been built for the North Sea and off Scotland’s coast.
- Denmark gets 20% of its power from wind, including offshore wind, and uses the national grid to smooth out problems of intermittency.
- The guaranteed rate compares favorably with the one Germany has used to spur offshore wind development.

Offshore oil drilling is not any more difficult an engineering feat than standing up an offshore turbine. They are installing 5-megawatt producers now and designing 7.5-megawatt monsters.

WHY
- Ireland expects the new energy infrastructure to result in lower power rates for its consumers in the long run, if not in the immediate short run as well.
- Ireland presently gets 6% of its power from wind but offshore capacity should be able to bring that up to 2000 megawatts, 1/3 of the nation’s electricity.

No complaints about offshore wind spills so far. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Ryan, Irish Energy Minister: "If we can connect and integrate wind farms from other jurisdictions, electricity will be produced wherever the wind is blowing…Ireland has one of the finest renewable energy resource potentials in the world…The support price is in line with what other countries are offering and without it we would not be able to attract any investment into Ireland. Now, investors can be confident when they invest in offshore wind."
- Torben Anderson, spokesman, NOW Ireland: "The total investment in the initial phase of deployment could potentially reach €4 billion."
- Michael Walsh, IWEA: "[It is] an important step on the road [to Ireland’s Neew Energy goals…IWEA is] looking forward to the delivery of the substantial network infrastructure that will be needed to allow growth of our renewable wind energy resource…"