Everytime an Irish wind turbine spins – it takes expensive fossil fuels off the system

Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland writes in the Irish Sun on Sunday

The war in Ukraine and the increased cost of energy puts new focus on the benefits of Ireland’s growing wind energy industry for Irish families. 

Last month Irish wind farms provided nearly half of the country’s electricity and over the year to date have supplied more than a third of our power demand.

We spend a million euro an hour importing fossil fuels for our energy. Every time a wind turbine is spinning it is pushing those expensive imported fossil fuels off the system and lowering wholesale electricity prices.

On the days with the most wind power on the system last month the price of electricity was a third less than the average monthly cost.

In Ireland we suffer because we rely too heavily on imported fossil fuels. This puts us at the mercy of international developments like wars and sky-rocketing gas prices. That is what is driving up our bills and putting the security of our energy supply at risk.

The answer is to build more wind farms, on and offshore, as quickly as we can. Irish power, creating jobs at home and powering our own communities.

Wind energy has many advantages.  First, it is clean. The electricity produced by a wind turbine creates none of the carbon emissions that drive the climate emergency. 

Second, it is efficient. When you burn coal, oil, or gas to create electricity a huge amount of energy is lost in the process.  Wind energy, on the other hand, is 100 per cent efficient at turning wind into electricity.

Industry Employment

Third, the Irish wind energy industry employs well over 5,000 people across the country and, last year, wind farms invested more than €4.3 million in local communities across 19 counties in rural Ireland.

This was used to support a variety of local projects, ranging from education initiatives and sports clubs to installing solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades for community buildings.

The faster we can build and connect renewable energy onto the electricity system the more secure we make your energy supply, the more money we can put back in your pocket and the lower we can make our carbon emissions.

While we have made a lot of progress in developing our wind energy, the reality is we need to do much more to continue lowering prices and emissions.

Coastal Communities

While we are working to build the next generation of onshore wind farms our members are hard at work planning major new offshore wind farms which we hope to see completed before the end of the decade.

These will transform our energy system and will be a big step towards an energy independent Ireland, a country that is exporting, not importing, energy. It will also mean enormous investment in our coastal communities and the creation of a whole new industry that will provide jobs and opportunities right around the island.

Russia followed their brutal invasion of Ukraine with the weaponisation of gas supply. This winter, Europe is under threat because our energy supply is under threat. This means real hardship for families across the continent who struggle to pay bills that, ultimately, end up funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.

If we can realise our potential, if the Government will help us to build more wind farms, and build them faster, we can play a critical role in defending Ireland, and Europe, from similar threats in the future.

Not with guns or tanks, but with wind turbines producing the energy we need to, one day, drive gas off our electricity system. We are ready to play our part.