Energy infrastructure

I still have a national embarrassment in the form of a pack of iodine tablets because some Irish git had a nuclear panic attack and sent them to everyone.

It's almost like increasing reliance on natural gas is a really, really bad idea. Especially when so much of Europe's gas supply comes from an ever more aggressive and militaristic Russia.

You could say that - but former German chancellor Gerhard shroeder would probably disagree with you -

Although there might just be a tiny bias on his part - Germany has backed itself into a gas tight corner... And has no real option but to buy Russian gas ,and quietly influence eu policy to suit Russia ..

Does anyone know if most of the proposed gw will be south facing to get most energy at midday ? Or east-west orientation to get the greatest spread of production -

Most sites ( commercial and domestic) tend to be fixed , which makes for simpler- cheaper installation (and operation ) - but obviously due south means you dont get much extra benefit from our long summer days .. might suit the grid better if there was more of spread of production .. rather than uaranteeing full price for what ever is produced whenever ..

Eh... I think you managed to completely miss the entire point of my post.

As recently as 2012, Ireland imported 91% of its energy needs - all fossil fuels. It's now down to around 65% - due in a large part by the progress in decarbonising electricity. With the projects in line for completion in the next 5 years, renewable generation will provide more electricity than is consumed in the country on an annual basis.

Interconnectors allow Ireland to sell excess electricity as well as buy it. In this context, it's a massive step up from the one-way flow of money out of the country to cover fossil fuel based energy costs. As has been pointed out, Ireland is a net exporter of electricity and has been since 2016 (except for 2019). Having more ways to export and import electricity improves energy security, ffs.

Claiming that it's bad strategy to develop interconnectors makes about as much sense as suggesting Ireland should not rely on being part of the global phone network/internet/banking system, or participate in global shipping. The entire global energy industry has committed to electrification and currently the way to trade electricity directly and efficiently is by interconnection. Cutting yourself off from the global energy market would impoverish the country.

There's currently 1.2GW of new interconnector capacity being developed - with an ETA of about 3 or 4 years. The benefits to the country when this capacity becomes available will be immense.

More energy produced than is consumed is smoke and mirrors relative to a net zero goal. Sound bite stuff.

"Energy can't be created or destroyed only converted from one form to another "

But if the energy used or turned into electricity doesn't involve burning and releasing Co² then that's a win -

Building and transporting anything results in emissions - which is the basis of our economy - creative emission accountants take care of the carbon neutral / carbon negative labels -

"Net zero is a meaningless concept. The only functionally valid measure is whether the amount of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing or decreasing."

You've pretty much defined what net zero means with your second sentence.

As has been pointed, the word "net" is pretty important component of the phase "net zero". Of course if you ignore half of what's in front of you and fixate on the word "zero", then the concept will confuse you.

The maths is simple - if all countries achieve net zero, then globally there will be no further anthropogenic CO2 added to the atmosphere. The latter is the goal, the path to achieving it is for each individual country to get to net zero.

Off topic but -

Have you heard that the EU is proposing a carbon import tax. This means that importers will have to pay the carbon tax associated with products manufactured abroad. This will obviously be passed onto consumers so will likely lead to higher prices but goods manufactured closer to consumers.

I rather suspected in 2006 that we were headed for for unaffordable eco taxes, and it's rapidly coming to pass. Luckily I have been planning to emigrate for some years, and the exit is now in sight.