Energy infrastructure

Although that is definitely a contributory factor, 9.5% of electricity being imported, could not alone account for a 21.6% reduction in CO2 emissions. Maybe the mild winter accounted for the other 12%? There wasn't a lot of additional wind capacity rolled out in 2023 afair.

Only if we only import at times of excess renewable generation in the UK, which is not the case at the moment. So at best were importing the average of their generations carbon emissions, or at worst you could say we're importing whatever their marginal generation is, likely gas.

So why did we go from being a net exporter to a net importer when the only change that has occurred is the UK leaving the EU emissions trading scheme? Because it's cheaper for them to burn gas than it is for us as they don't have to pay the same for carbon credits.

There has been no drastic change in the fuel mix in Ireland or the UK in the last 2 years but we have gone from being a net exporter predominantly on windy days to constant imports, even to the point where on windy days last winter wind was being curtailed here while importing at full tilt from the UK.

Data centres are projected to nearly double Ireland's electricity usage in the next decade. If it's allowed to happen we will never meet our emissions targets.

There is a lot of work going on in the grid behind the scenes that many aren’t aware of.

Yup, I don't think we'll ever get to 100% renewable but we'll get very close to it. Ireland is unusually placed near the top of the average wind speeds across the world. Wind power makes total sense.

I think direct drive systems will be here en-mass soon (I think they some in Galway somewhere). The gearbox turbines maintenance costs are to high (but on the overall scale with maintenance costs, wind is still cheaper), they'll be phased out over time. As you mention, most people wouldn't be aware of these type of turbines.

Nor would they be aware of the worlds largest flywheel being operated here since 2023 (Grid stabilisation tech)

There's a heap of work going on behinds scenes.

Wind is free, Ireland will be leader in wind energy tech in the future. (same as France being Nuclear, Iceland Geothermal, North Africa Solar, etc). You use what you have.

We could even see smelting plants similar to Rio Tinto Straumsvik as well as many more data centres opening here because of the abundance of wind energy available to us.

UK has a lot more suitable locations for shallow offshore than we he have though.

Wind is free?? for who exactly??🙄

Coal is $102 per Ton
Oil is $85 per Barrel
Wind is Free, it's available to every that wishes to invest in exploiting it.

Wind is free , its the "capture" and conversion to electricity that costs,

But then again so is oil and gas , its the extraction and transport that costs , and the arbitrage -

I think you'll find its the consumer who gets smashed with the "Wind is Free" nonsense when it comes to power prices

The "fuel" may be free, but it's disparate (low density), unreliable and thus expensive to capture and of limited use. Same with solar. That's why there's nearly a perfect correlation between a country's embrace of this stuff and energy costs.

Great table.

One thing, isn't the Lysaghtstown Solar Farm earmarked to be 131MW? The table shows it to be only 87MW.

Lastly, is there any table or data on solar farms either granted planning or under construction, a timeline on forward capacity?

Oriel Offshore Wind project is applying for PP directly with ABP for 375MW without bothering with ORESS.

Backed by JERA, one of the biggest electricity generation groups in the world, who presumably know what they are doing.

They will compete head-to-head with both fossil-fuel based generation and renewable projects operating under the various contract-for-difference schemes with zero subsidies and zero government investment required.

This demonstrates clearly how the sector has been revolutionised by new technology. In a fair fight, gloves off and no advantages given to any particular generator, modern renewables - wind power in this case - beat all legacy generation technology in terms of competitive pricing.

At this stage the government could drop the whole ORESS thing and wind/solar would still dominate any new investment. It might be worth it just to shut up the constant bleating about "government money" going to renewables.

In fact the effect of the ORESS scheme is to reduce volatility of electricity prices for investors, not to provide undeserved profits. The PSO refund subtracted from you electricity bill came out of the pockets of the wind generators - when wholesale prices are higher than the auction strike price, they must pay the balance back and when prices are under, they get the subsidy.