Begorrah! Ireland Got Half Its Energy from Wind Last Saturday

Good going Ireland.  The bar chart below presents the contribution that wind energy made to each European country’s overall grid-mix.  Note the breakdown between onshore and offshore.  Impressive stuff.

On the other side of the pond, the U.S. averages 6.6%.  Not bad.  Making progress.

 

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One comment on “Begorrah! Ireland Got Half Its Energy from Wind Last Saturday
  1. marcopolo says:

    Craig,

    I’m not sure if you repeat this sort of disinformation deliberately, or just believe anything that confirms what you want to believe.

    Your source of information is derived from an exceedingly dubious source, enviro30.com, a website that appears to be a front for Wind lobbyists.

    Likewise, the graph you publish is not only inaccurate, but largely a fantasy.

    The government of the Irish Republic refutes the graph completely as a falsehood, citing a significant number of flaws.

    Government criticism, included;

    The graph did not accurately account for the number of hours characterized by extreme system situations which occurred where load and reserve requirements could not be met.

    The study also showed how unverified assumptions and assertions had been included as ‘fact’.

    In places, calculations presented as observable operating data, were in reality simply substituted by calculations based on theoretical maximum capacity of the turbines plus the velocity of wind in any given period. (In many instances the power generated was either dumped, or never generated as the turbines were shut down due to extreme weather conditions.

    The government report also stated 70% of Irish electricity is generated from fossil natural Gas imports. Ireland also receives nuclear power from the UK to supplement wind power.

    The report found the term “renewable’ was often misrepresented as ‘Wind power’, thus producing exaggerated inaccuracies occurred .

    The history of Wind power in Ireland has not been all that happy from an environmental viewpoint.

    Installations have caused huge peat landslides releasing vast quantities of Climate change emissions.

    In addition, the Irish government is most concerned about the disposal of obsolete, malfunctioning or dangerous Wind installations. After a mere 9-14 years at least 18% of Ireland’s wind installations are ready to be scrapped!

    Beggorrah indeed! The government is most alarmed as it appears the Taxpayer is likely to foot the bill.