BACK IN THE WIND: AIRTRICITY FOUNDER STARTING OVER, SPEAKING OUT

Eddie O'Connor, having sold his very successful Airtricity wind energy business for E50 million ($78.3 million), has plowed E30 million ($47 million) back into the New Energy fields. He completely rejects concerns about wind turbine supply bottlenecks and rising prices caused by the wind energy industry boom.

He was asked his opinion of the UK plan to increase its share of wind-generated electricity from 5% to 33% in just over a decade. O’Connor: "It is realistic…"

O’Connor’s endorsement is valuable to a Labor government plan meeting opposition from critics who level the usual charges against wind, its intermittency, its potential siting dilemmas, its overburdened supply chain.

According to a recent item in the Financial Times, the British Royal Academy of Engineering described the engineering and investment challenges of the government’s goals as “totally underestimated, if accounted for at all.”

O'Connor said the planned European "supergrid" linking regions of enormous wind energy capacity from Ireland to the Baltic Sea will eliminate problems of intermittency.

He also predicted the expanding presence of electric vehicles, smart transmission and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology will allow for storage of wind energy blowing at night. Stored in vehicle batteries, the power will be available during daytime peak demand periods, further smoothing wind's variability.

To siting challenges, O’Connor offered alternative routes. If overland transmission from the north to English population centers is blocked by NIMBY-ism, a grid could easily take a maritime route.

Citing the rising cost of turbines, Royal Dutch Shell last spring backed out of its partnership with utility E.ON in the massive, beleaguered London Array offshore wind project. The move left some energy industry commentators dubious about the economics of such investments. As NewEnergyNews has pointed out before, the EU cap-and-trade system makes the value of a wind installation greater to a utility like E.ON than to an oil company like Shell. NewEnergyNews expects the London Array to find new funding, as do both Prime Minister Brown and O’Connor.

O’Connor: "UK support is good enough to build offshore wind if you've got the will to do it…"

As O’Connor pointed out, though turbine prices have gone up (50% in 5 years), power prices have doubled. The result: Wind energy is now cost competitive with natural gas.

O'Connor and other forward-thinking Europeans are anxious to invest in transmission to support the development of New Energy. (click to enlarge)

Airtricity founder funds new wind company
Gerard Wynn, July 8, 2008 (Reuters via UK Gurardain)

WHO
Eddie O'Connor, former CEO, Airtricity/would-be founder, Mainstream Renewable Power

WHAT
Having sold Airtricity for E1.9 billion ($2.98 billion), O’Connor is trying to raise E300 million ($469.5 million) to fund Mainstream Renewable Power.

Airtricity is busy in the UK. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The UK goal is to generate a third of its electricity from wind by 2020.
- Royal Dutch Shell backed out of the London Array, a proposed gigantic offshore installation, in the spring, citing rising costs.

WHERE
Like Airtricity, Mainstream Renewable Power will be based in Dublin, Ireland.

The London Array will likely get funded and get built. And it is just the beginning of offshore wind in Europe. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- O’Connor sold Airtricity to European utility giants E.ON and Scottish & Southern Energy PLC.
- Mainstream Renewable Power will develop wind, solar power plants and marine energy project.
- O’Connor’s business plan for Mainstream Renewable Power will have it selling 7% of its income to investment funds and retain profits above that.
- The UK wind plan will require an estimated 7,000 new turbines in the next 12 years.

QUOTES
O’Connor: "The bigger the grids the better…"