TRANS-CELTIC WIND GRID

Confirming there a bit of the poet in every Irish soul, Irish Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said this in commenting on a new proposed joint transmission project between Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland: “Interconnection is the way forward…”

The ISLES (Irish-Scottish Links on Energy Study) will launch in late 2008 and study the technology, economics, construction and regulatory needs for such a grid.

T.S. Elliot would call the new Celtic transmission an objective correlative: It is literally something vital and valuable (shared power transmission for the development of local and regional energy assets making all who participate richer) and it symbolizes something equally vital and valuable (the sharing of resources, a spirit of cooperation and the whole becoming more than the sum of the parts).

Go back to 1995 and try to convince somebody in Londonderry that Dublin and Belfast would be planning a transmission project together in a little over a decade. Forget convincing anybody it would be true, good luck not getting institutionalized. Or shot.

Connecting the northern end of the British Isles to facilitate the use of wind energy is enormously valuable in and of itself. Beyond the value to be gained by exploiting the energy, the new development will likely bring huge economic benefits to the regions where the grid, the wind installations and (eventually) the ocean energy projects are to be built.

Ultimately, this regional transmission will become part of the new European Supergrid, further facilitating an EU-wide shift to New Energy. Any problems associated with wind’s intermittency will be more than compensated for by interconnecting wind-rich regions across the continent. With present predictability, excess electricity generated where the wind is blowing can then be shifted to where it falls off.

Add ocean energy to the mix and it becomes a remarkable wealth of base load and peak load power entirely from New Energy. It would be foolhardy NOT to invest money developing such resources.

Eamon Ryan, Energy Minister, Ireland: “We have a vast wealth of free natural resources that we can harness to provide ourselves with a clean and sustainable source of energy…It is imperative that we develop an effective grid system that will allow us to work in partnership.”

Like the man said, “Interconnection is the way forward…”

Arlene Foster, Energy Minister, Northern Ireland: “We must now plan for the future if we are to ensure sustainable electricity supplies at a time of increasing world energy pressures…This project is a significant milestone in utilising our local resources and will help us, in conjunction with our neighbours, map out the future of offshore renewable energy to benefit the whole of Northern Ireland.”

And if folks can learn that in Ireland, they can learn it anywhere.

The plan is to harvest some of the richest wind energy resources in the world. (click to enlarge)

Ireland and Scotland unite in green energy plan; Energy ministers reach deal to share new wind electricity grid
Stephen O’Brien, July 6, 2008 (UK Times)
and
Feasibility study on wind and wave energy to involve North and Scotland
Gerry Moriarty, July 8, 2008 (Irish Times)

WHO
Ireland (Eamon Ryan, Energy Minister); Scotland (Jim Mather, Energy Minister); the Northern Ireland executive (Arlene Foster, Energy Minister)

WHAT
Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland will jointly develop new transmission to support new wind energy installations across the 3 jurisdictions.

Adequate transmission is a precondition to wind energy potential's fulfillment. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The Energy Ministers for the 3 governing bodies will meet for the first time July 7 to begin development of a feasibility study.

WHERE
- The proposed European Supergrid would like the nations of the EU.
- The Celtic interconnection would be a piece of the Supergrid.

WHY
- Estimates suggest wind energy assets off Scotland’s coast are several times Scotland’s peak demand.
- The Ireland/Northern Ireland/Scotland feasibility study is funded by the EU Interreg programme, a fund for the development of cooperation between EU states. Cost is expected to be $3.16 million.
- The proposed grid would connect wind assets on the west coast of Scotland, the north and east coasts of Northern Ireland, out on the Irish Sea and along the west coast of Ireland.
- Aside from the delivery of enormous and barely tapped energy assets, the projects represent enormous economic growth potential for the coastal regions involved.

After the wind gets working, Scotland's pilot programs in the Orkney Islands show there is tremendous maritime energy to harvest. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Irish official: “This is the first step on the road towards building a shared wind-power grid between western Scotland, Ireland and the North…That will enable us to link into a Europe-wide supergrid for wind energy at a later date, which would make renewable energy a more reliable, flexible resource.”
- Jim Mather, Energy Minister, Scotland: “To realise the potential of the huge wind, wave and tidal resources at our disposal, we need to examine the longer term development of our grid infrastructure in partnership with the governments in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland…The feasibility study will allow us to explore the various challenges associated with the development of an offshore transmission network and help make the case for commercial investment…Scotland, we believe, has never been in better shape to become the green energy capital of Europe and, in turn, a renewables powerhouse…”
- Eamon Ryan, Energy Minister, Ireland: “Our shared location, on the periphery of Europe and close to both the Atlantic and North Sea, gives us a distinct advantage…