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THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT Bank (EIB) has provided a €155 million loan to Bord Gáis to contribute to the construction and operation of six onshore wind farms.
The expansion programme which will take place in Tipperary, Clare and Kilkenny will represent a total investment of €311 million and is expected to be completed in 2013/2014.
It is expected the programme will increase the operational wind capacity of Bord Gáis wind farms from 234MW to 365MW, an increase of more than 50 per cent.
Vice President of the EIB Mihai Tanasescu said the bank was pleased to support the investment in renewable energy as it “uses a free natural resource that exists in abundance in Ireland and will create jobs across the country”.
This is the second major funding announcement from Bord Gáis this week following the success of the €500 million bond sale on 22 November.
Michael G O’Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer at Bord Gáis said both of these developments “demonstrate that investor confidence in Ireland and Irish companies has significantly improved”.
Bord Gáis owns and operates 132 wind turbines on 13 wind farms in eight counties and over the last five years the EIB has provided more than €1.4 billion for energy infrastructure in Ireland.
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I think great news and hope we will see more!
MacRua, what will you do if the country has lots of these and if you’re watching the Rugby World Cup final on TV (or whatever) and the wind stops blowing?
Oh no, The wind will stop blowing and the sky will start falling!
SM, wrong, the Sky will not fall but carry on broadcasting but the power will go on your TV, your fridge, freezer, water pump, lights, cooker, etc.
Actually William, the idling fossil fuel plant that has been backing up the unreliable wind turbine will take over when the wind drops, making you kind of wonder what the point of the wind turbine was in the first place?
Tim, that will only work provided the number of useless wind turbines is kept low. If there are lots of them then there will not be enough idle, CO2 producing, manned, wasteful, fossil fuel plants to save Sky from failing.
If Spare CapacityNo Telly
I was actually agreeing with you William :)
Wind turbines make us feel good, feel green, feel like we are doing something positive but when you do the maths they dont make any sense.
Just like many groups have realised that biofuels make no sense, sooner or later reality will catch up with us, it always does.
Tim, I know you were agreeing with me! I was just making the point that even the huge waste of ticking over power stations are not enough to keep the lights on if there are too many wind turbines.
My formula didn’t come out right.
IF Space Capacity is LESS THAN Total Capacity MINUS Wind Power THAT EQUALS No TV
combination of wind, sea and solar energy sources, combined. its been pretty well covered now lads. why are some people just so determined to go nuclear! its bizarre.
Keith, its about being realistic, show me a major country largely powered by renewables, we need reliable power, wind and wave are intermittent, last time i checked solar doesnt work so well at night time, countries like Denmark compensate by buying power from their neighbours (at a premium) when their renewables are insufficient.
We buy nuclear electricity from the UK and then pretend we are not nuclear powered, an Irish solution for an Irish problem.
The German decision to retire their nuclear reactors was driven by politics and emotional rather than science, they are gearing up to burn lots more coal since they cant realistically power their entire nation on wind and solar.
Keith, solar currently meets 1/2,000th of the world’s requirements and wave none. Back to the drawing board for you.
Hi William, I was referring to the loans actually for business expansion. Although I do agree with this particular expansion of windfarms…..And my tv will not go out while watching the rugby as I have as a back-up a multiple-ferrit operated wheel turbine system in my chimney for such occasions….although it hasnt been tested in a real blackout situation….
Hi William, I posted a response but it mistakenly appeared in your second comment further down the thread- FYI…
The logic behind people pressing red thumbs at times is amazing. Why get red thumbs for this “solar currently meets 1/2,000th of the world’s requirements and wave none”. These are facts.
Does this mean people do not like facts and prefer to live in a dream world where things are the way they would like them to be rather that full of nasty facts, like Wind Energy is a con?
MacRua, what type of Ferret have? Superferret? :)
Tim, what’s really disgusting is the cowardice by the German PM. She’s a trained scientist! Not alone does she know NP is safe but she knows the dangers of Climate Change. Most politicians will do ANYTHING for votes including destroying the planet.
Why oh why are there always people on here that talk about wind power and they do not know what they are talking about. Please read if you had negative comments below.
Here is what happens when the wind is down [http://www.eirgrid.com/media/October%202012.pdf] (as is the case right now). Forecast models are created so that the grid can handle the ups and downs. Base load generators like peat and coal are generally always used as they are cheap and slow to turn on/off. Fast switching power stations like hydro and gas are turned on to counteract the incorrect predictions of wind power. However as you can see Eirgrids predictions are quite good. Wind power is variable so as we get more turbines it gets tougher to act against the drops. However more wind turbines means there is a higher probability of catching more wind and somewhere will always be windy. Therefore, part of the wind power mix will become a base load, and it will reduce dependency on coal.
As the number of turbines increase it becomes more important to connect to a larger grid (we have one interconnector, with more planned, to the UK) which again levels off the variability. The more connected we are the better. There are plans for this all over europe (http://www.friendsofthesupergrid.eu/), first mooted by Eddie O Conner, previously of Airtricity and now Mainstream.
So when the wind is blowing we are reducing use of gas because gas is expensive and emits greenhouse gases. So more wind turbines does mean less CO2. Setting up wind turbines is expensive, but the fuel is free and on site. Wind farms need subsidies to get up and running because initial investment is high but in the long run they are better especially since we have no control over the fossil fuel prices. Fossil fuels are subsidised all the time [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2012/jan/18/fossil-fuel-subsidy , http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-09/fossil-fuels-got-more-aid-than-clean-energy-iea.html but no one seems worried about that. The environmental damage from BnM blanket peat cutting for power generation, for example, is not taken into account and is never paid for by BnM. The loss of wildlife, tourism etc is also not taken into account. Try to understand the bigger picture.
Each wind farm has to have an environmental statement so that the local area is taken into account. This includes, noise, visual, wildlife etc. There is a whole planning process. Wind farms are not just placed besides someone house without them being consulted first. One of the main things slowing down wind farms is the grid. It is too weak and too low of voltage for many wind farms – Donegal is a good example. The grid has a load of other planning issues as many people don’t want an ugly pylon near their house – this is one area which I think could be improved, either make them better looking (e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15293918) or bury them which is probably too expensive.
Turbines can kill birds. So do buildings. So do cars, and so do humans. However the number of birds killed by turbines is minimal. This is also taken into account in the environmental statement. Turbines may be placed in other places or raised higher to avoid flight paths. It all depends on type of bird etc.
There are a few reasons why offshore wind farms are not off the west coast. One of the main ones is the size of the waves. To build a structure that has to handle a 100year wave size (which can be >30m) the structure has to have amazing design and bulk strength. Too expensive to do this. Even just to maintain them would be a nightmare as the weather windows would be too small. Another is depth of the water.The East coast is a much better option due to small waves, the shallow Irish sea and huge UK market. Required Investment is also a factor though the UK is ploughing ahead with this. Offshore wind has many advantages, away from NIMBYs, noise constrains are lower, turbines can be bigger and can have more of them. Initial investment is the issue as it is quite large. Seeing as Ireland is screwed financially, it will be a while before it is done here.
It is a huge shame that Ireland has not invested further into tidal and wave energy. Scotland is the leading place in the world right now. It could have been the West of Ireland – Instead it is the Orkney Island – not a practical place but they put the investment in. I blame the government (more the previous one than this one) for this. We could have been number one in the world on this.
Due to the interconnector (and future connections), Ireland uses nuclear power. Get over it..we use it. Having it on our land is another argument. Nuclear can be useful if the waste is treated properly. It is generally used as the base load I talked about earlier in countries that have it – this is due to the difficulty in turning it off. However it is generally predictive and produces a lot of energy from little. If it is used, it would get rid of the other base loads e.g. coal. So the argument is that it is more environmentally friendly. European nations with nuclear have been known to drop their waste off the coast of Somalia, which in turned killed off fish, making the fishermen into pirates [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html , http://somalilandpress.com/somalia-radioactive-waste-surfaces-coastline-minister-21250. I don’t know enough about it to see what the other options are.
Rant over
Excellent synopsis. You read my mind and saved me hours tapping on my iPhone.
It’s time we as a country grew up and had a sensible debate on the energy issue and how we could be world leaders for once. Thanks again great post
Well said sir. Great to see a comment based on fact.
A free resource that we’re going to be paying out the ass for with the most expensive electricity in Europe. Paddy gets screwed again.
Why do you think its a free resource?
Land, turbines, installation, power lines, maintenance, etc all cost money
Tony Skillington
Paddy only gets screwed because he won’t do anything about it.
Try being a little more proactive.
Tim..the hardware will be paid for within 10 years..after that it’s maintenance costs which are reletively low. There’s oil…no gas..no coal..therefore the basic ‘fuel’ is free but it won’t stop them from putting the saddle on our backs and jacking up the price.
what about the fossil powered station that has to be run to match the output from wind enegry. that’s a big cost.
wind enegry technology isn’t compatible with constant voltage and current systems.
Would it not be better to put these in the sea off the west coast?
Good idea but cost of offshore is too expensive and conditions too harsh at present for current technology. Having said that an offshore super European grip is being considered at ENTSO level.
Bord pleannala will stop wind farms or locals
I hope so for the residents that still live too close to these industries
What’s wrong with a Wind Turbine, I’d rather look at a farm of them then a sky full of smog and choking as a result!
Jeroen???
What are you like?
You cannott forever depend on fossile fuels as they will eventually diminish.
And to alleviate any fears you might have.
Most windfarms are located in remote areas where they won’t bother anyone.
hopefully
no wind farm produce electricity without a fossil fuel power station being run to produce enough power to take over instantly.
so the wind farms could be on the moon for all the benfit they are.
I for one don’t want to see my electricity bill increase to subsidie the flawed concept of wind enegry.
why are other EUROPEAN countries trying to rid this form of energy…..More of a question
Five reasons:
1. The electricty they produce is expensive and cant compete without major subsidies.
2. When you go over a certain % wind power, your grid becomes unstable, you run into little problems like what do you do when the wind doesnt blow?
3. Massive NIMBY movement in other countries blocking new turbines.
4. Statring to realise the damage the turbines can do, killing birds, etc.
5. Since the turbines need to be constantly backed up with fossil fuel, the actual impact on CO2 emissions is negligible.
1. Economies of scale will close the cost gap as will rising oil costs
2. Smart grids and technology can be deployed to negate instability. Example wind can be pumped into reservoirs during excess wind and generate hydro power during limited wind.
3. These people can be legislated against if we’re prepared to play hard ball. We’re just protecting local politicians positions.
4. Negligible, respiratory damage in people and animals from burning fossil fuels is 100 times more damaging.
5. Again smart grids an technology can mitigate these risks. The wind always blows somewhere in the world or we can take electricity from people’s parked electrical cars or reduce electricity use by adjusting thermostats remotely by a degree unnoticeable to them.
@Andrew, While you make some good points, i have a few comments,
From a cost point of view, you are competing against coal, not oil for electricity production, coal reserves are vast and not likely to run out anytime soon.
While we are waiting for the cost of wind to drop as you predict, more and more coal (the dirtiest form of energy) is being burned, making climate change all the more urgent
Im disturbed by your suggestion that we simply change the laws to ignore peoples objections to wind turbines in their areas.
As for the smart grids and EV storage, it may well work out, but at the very least it is decades away and it boils down to betting the future of this country on technologies that are far from certain to succeed.
INTERCONNECTER!
Lots of wind = less fossil fuel plants and we can sell excess energy via connector when not required or store it via hydro etc. we can also buy energy when needed thru the interconnecter when required. Super european wind grid is coming
That’s Gas, we’ll be paying out through the ass for this!
They better not try putting them near our house or ill burn it to the ground… or die trying… and I know plenty of locals that’ll do the same!
Best news in ages green energy is the way forward:)
Green energy why not invest in cow shit
People do exactly that. Its called biogas. By way of example only, there are over 6,000 biogas plants in Germany. Take a look – http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/biogas
how much will this cost me?
RIP Ireland’s birds of prey, bats and natural landscapes. Sickening news.
really? exaggeration much?
Great news but do the maths…. Sadly with an estimated 1billion barrels of oil of the south coast a company approaches the IDA for €200million to help fund… This company is now seeking funds from Asia which it will get, I’m baffled by the lack of interest in this new industry.. Case study Norway. Even if we could be half as good as the Norwegians think of the revenue for the country provided we change the taxation. It is there and is only a matter of time
More borrowings !
What’s is the energy production generation per sq/m ratio comparing with solar panels or geo-thermal energy?
have your say