Energy infrastructure

One reason could be that direct sunshine only occurs in perpetually overcast Ireland for about 14% of the of hours in a year. It's a preposterous energy source in Ireland that is at it's miserable best when it's least needed; being when the weather is at it's miserable worst.

I've got a great idea, why don't we invest a few hundred million on a Gas fired power station that will be out of commission from mid October through to mid March, and will only produce 20% of it's rated output, on average, over the time it's not out of commission.

Think my next purchase will be a new hob for the kitchen that won't turn on 85% of the time I need it. Great for those on a diet.

I am eagerly awaiting the first commercial scale solar installation in Ireland, as I could do with a good laugh. The only reason anyone would build such a thing is as a reliable machine for harvesting subsidies from the Irish taxpayer, much in the same way Elon Musk bought a company called Tesla that exists to harvest government subsidies.

Thanks for that gjim.

I imagine it can’t be too long before we get an in depth study on this at the moneypoint 1 and 2 sites as I imagine they will take the max amount of energy available to be produced at the worst conditions for generating available (ie high pressure for days no wind etc).

once we have that info, it should just be a case of building enough generation that allows us to use the excess renewables to be converted to green hydrogen to be converted back to electricity when we have a dearth of wind.

also the green hydrogen can be used in the NG network and in HGV’s, busses, container ships etc.

we will also have access to french nuclear power via the interconnectors without having to build our own nuclear plants, which I think in this thread anyway, has been proven to be a bad idea.

How much wind/solar capacity would be added without vast state subsidies, while the risk of black/brown outs continues to rise?? All the PSO money here is now going towards these developers while still having to maintain gas and coal generation. The figures from Germany this year tell u all you need to know about dysfunctional energy policies based on greenwash and developer led energy policies. That and their decision to urgently proceed with Nordstream 2 via the Baltic further highlights these facts. None of this comes as a surprise when you cut threw the BS and actually analyse the economics of the likes of offshore wind

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/dismal-economics-offshore-wind-energy

It's amazing how polarised this debate is , but most of it is anti something -

Because youre anti something you're espousing an alternative - almost any alternative ...

And it's funny how statistic (which can be manipulated at the best of times ) , are often blended with media opinion pieces ( from the right think tank, to give the required view point -

There are only two commercially operated Breeder reactors in operation today, both in Russia one of which is over 40 years old. Generally one of the major uses of Breeder reactors is the production of Plutonium for Nuclear weapons. Tbh Nuclear icebreakers are semi-military and are owned by the Russian state, so sure technically possible but I wouldn't hold out hope for importing that sorta tech into Irish market 😉

What happens in winter and at night?? ie. the peak demand times

Thats not reflected anywhere its being deployed - the most expensive energy prices across the EU are associated with wind energy deployment.

Ah yes, good old Tim Worstall, fellow of the institute behind Thatcherism and staunch UKIP supporter.

Its quiet hilarious a supporter of wind energy at any cost slagging off nuclear for being "unreliable". In the real world I think you find the likes of the French Grid to be very reliable and low carbon. Compare that to the German grid where the government despite a vast spend on wind energy is now desperate to secure more gas supplies from Russia via Nordstream 2