Moving Offshore?
A new wind energy market segment is
emerging offshore. Over 500 MW has
already been installed in the seas off
the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden,
the UK and Ireland, where a first
project has been realised at Arklow
Bank, off the Wicklow coast.
The less turbulent, high wind-speed conditions make offshore wind development very
attractive. In Ireland’s case, where most potential development is located off the east coast
and close to the heavy load centre of Dublin, there is a further advantage.
However, the offshore wind industry is still at an early stage and the high development
costs involved are unlikely to match the competitive onshore costs in the near future.
Ireland still has many suitable onshore wind farm sites that can offer high wind-speeds
and we can expect development to be focused there for some time to come.
Research and Development
EU funded Research and Development programmes such as those under the 5th
Framework Programme have given great impetus to the wind industry in Europe over the
past 15 years. The results of such programmes include the development of large MW-scale
turbines, the first European Wind Atlas and support for demonstration projects such as
the first offshore wind farm. Great advances have been made in wind power technology
and further research is essential to take wind power to a position where it is fully
competitive with the cheapest alternatives. If we are to achieve our European and
National targets the industry needs to:
• Continue reducing costs
• Enable increased penetration of wind power
SEI’s Wind Atlas;
• Minimise social and environmental impacts
Wind Speed at 100m a.g.l.
Ireland’s Wind Atlas
SEI’s Wind Atlas has been developed to map Ireland’s vast
wind resource. The wind atlas will contribute to a new
approach for the development of wind energy projects in
Ireland. Wind speed and power are identified at 50, 75 and
100 metres above ground level (a.g.l.) representing the hubheights of current and future wind turbine technology.
At 100 metres above the ground, the wind speed is such that
almost the entire country has a competitive wind resource.
Some locations around the country are better than others
but every county has the wind resource to plan for wind
energy projects in their areas. See the online wind atlas at
www.sei.ie/windmaps
What to Expect from Wind Energy…
If Ireland adopts policy targets to provide 20 % of our electricity from renewable sources
by 2010 increasing to 30 % by 2020, we could expect to see over 1,500 MW of wind
energy installed both on and offshore by the end of this decade and up to 3,000 MW by
the end of the next. The benefits that such a contribution to Ireland’s electricity supply by
2020 include:
Benefit of wind energy over fossil fuel
Clean electricity for domestic houses
Abatement of Carbon Dioxide emissions
(main greenhouse gas)
Abatement of Sulphur Dioxide emissions
(responsible for acid rain)
Abatement of Nitrous Oxide emissions
(greenhouse gas)
Avoiding the need to import oil from abroad
Creation of industry and local employment
Quantified Benefit
2 million homes per year
8.1 million tonnes per year
147,000 tonnes per year
16,500 tonnes per year
19.3 million barrels per year
1,500 new jobs
If Ireland achieves its Green Paper target of 500MW additional installed RES generating
capacity by 2005, it would produce 2,100GWh in a total electricity system of around
28,000GWh. This would represent 7.5% of our electricity supply coming from renewable
energy.
Glossary and Facts:
Power is measured in:
1,000 watt (W) = 1 kilowatt (kW)
1,000 kW = 1 Megawatt (MW)
1,000,000 kW = 1 Gigawatt (GW)
Energy is obtained by multiplying time by power. Energy is measured in:
1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) = 1 megawatt hour (MWh)
1,000,000 kWh = 1 Gigawatt hour (GWh)
1 kWh is roughly the electricity used by an electric cooker plate in one hour.
The average household uses roughly 5 MWh per year for their domestic
electricity requirements.
Fossil fuel: Material that is extracted from the earth derived from the remains
of living things e.g. coal, peat, oil or gas. They take thousands or millions of
years to form.
Greenhouse gas (GHG): Gases emitted, typically through the combustion of
fossil fuels for energy, which contribute towards global warming and climate
change. GHGs include Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Oxides of
Nitrogen (NOx).
Other Sources of Information:
Recommended Websites
www.sei.ie
www.sei.ie/windmaps
www.windpower.org
www.ipcc.ch
www.iwea.com
www.ewea.org
www.mnag.ie
www.retscreen.net
Recommended Magazines
Renewable Energy World
www.jxj.com/rew/
New Energy
www.wind-energie.de/englischer-teil/english.htm
Sun and Wind Energy
www.sunwindenergy.com
Refocus
www.re-focus.net
Windpower Monthly
www.windpower-monthly.com
Wind Directions
www.ewea.org
Sustainable Energy Ireland, was established on May 1st, 2002, as a
statutory authority charged with promoting and assisting the
development of a sustainable national energy economy and is
funded by the Irish Government under the National Development
Plan 2000-2006 with programmes part financed by the European
Union.
The Renewable Energy Information Office, a national service of
Sustainable Energy Ireland was established to promote the use of
renewable resources and provide independent information and
advice on the financial, social and technical issues relating to
renewable energy development.
Sustainable Energy Ireland,
Renewable Energy Information Office,
Shinagh House,
Bandon,
Co.Cork.
t +353 23 42193
f +353 23 29154
e renewables@reio.ie
w www.sei.ie/reio.htm
Printed on
recycled paper
Sustainable Energy Ireland is funded by
the Irish Government under the
National Development Plan 2000-2006
with programmes part financed by the
European Union
The Wind
Energy
Industr y
Status and Prospects
The Wind Energy Industry
Status and Prospects
Currently, the wind industry in
Europe is worth €30 billion and
produces over 30,000
Megawatts (MW) of clean
power. Ireland is one of
Europe’s windiest countries
whose resources remain largely
untapped. By June 2004, Ireland
had 225 MW of wind power
plant installed in an electricity
system whose
total capacity
exceeds 5,300
MW. Clearly there
is plenty of room
for growth....
MW
EU
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Wind Energy in Ireland
Ireland has a wind resource that is the envy of the rest of Europe. A wind
turbine erected in typical Irish conditions produces twice as much electricity
as one at a typical German site. Germany boasted over 14,000 MW of wind
energy installations at the end of 2003 whereas Ireland had just 190 MW
installed. Most of the wind farms in Ireland currently employ less than 20
turbines ranging in size from several hundred kilowatts to 2.5 MW. Larger wind
farms and larger turbines are planned as developers strive to achieve the
increased reliability, availability and efficiency that modern wind turbine
technology has to offer. Ireland’s vast
potential means that, whilst it would be
a challenge, we could provide 30% of
our electricity from wind power by
2020.
Wind power installed in
Europe by end of 2003
A Global Overview
Even though wind power is a relatively
young industry, it is a rapidly expanding
one. From 2,500 MW in 1992 to over
40,000 MW by the end of 2003, the
global industry has grown at a rate of
over 30% per year. Almost 75% of this
capacity has been installed in Europe.
Penetration levels in the electricity sector have reached over 20% in Denmark.
The Northern German State of Schleswig-Holstein meets 30% of the regions
total electricity needs using 1,800 MW of installed wind power. The Navarre
region of Northern Spain produces 50% of it's electricity (over 700 MW
generating capacity installed) from wind power.
EurObserv’ER’s EU Wind Barometer
Incentive for Wind
Wind power is one of the world’s fastest growing energy
sources. Already wind turbines with a total generating
capacity of over 30,000 MW have been built around Europe.
This figure is expected to exceed 1.2 million MW by the year
2020.
Over the past ten years wind power capacity has been
expanding at an annual rate averaging more than 30%. In
contrast, the nuclear industry is growing at a rate of less than
1% whilst coal has not grown at all since the late 1980’s.
Europe is the centre of this young and high-tech industry and
home to 90% of the world’s manufacturers of medium and
large wind turbines.
Wind energy is already competing with conventional generation and will
continue to do so with fairer market conditions, access to grids and fairer
competition rules. A sensible way to make wind power as competitive as
conventional fuel is to make the fossil fuel sources pay for the damage they
create to the local and global environment. The costs associated with
accelerated global warming and harmful
emissions can be charged as a levy on top of
the price for fossil fuels according to the
amount of carbon dioxide they emit. Wind
energy is abundant and free and because it
does not cause harmful emissions would be
exempt of this carbon tax.
In addition, wind turbines and project costs
continue to decrease, making wind power
even more competitive compared to
conventional power generation.
Type
Renewables
- Wind
- Hydro
- Biomass/LFG
Total
Total
Mid
2002
Annual Capacity Added (MW)
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
2008
2009
Total
Added
2003 - 09
Total
Mid
2009
127
14
15
156
130
3
10
143
221
3
20
244
221
3
20
244
1456
21
120
1597
1583
35
135
1753
221
3
10
234
221
3
20
244
221
3
20
244
221
3
20
244
High Renewable Energy Penetration scenario from ESB Generation Adequacy Report 2003-2009
How much Wind
Power for Ireland?
A report published in 2003 by
industry experts Garrad Hassan ‘The
Impacts of Increased Levels of Wind
Penetration on the Electricity
Systems of the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland’ reveals that
there are no absolute technical limits
on the percentage of wind
generating capacity which may be
connected to the combined systems:
all technical issues can be resolved at
some cost. Obviously, the costs will
affect the decision to invest in a wind
turbine and a scenario where all our
power comes from wind is unlikely,
despite it being technically possible.
At approximately 3,300 MW of wind
capacity, there are no locations left
on the transmission systems at which
wind generation can be connected
without requiring transmission
system reinforcement. This means
that in the long term, 50% of our
electricity consumption being
provided for by wind energy is a
realistic target.
The table above shows projections
for wind and other renewable energy
forms and appears to concur with
this idea. This high RES (Renewable
energy supply) scenario is based on
the assumption that 22% of Ireland’s
electricity comes from renewable
sources by 2010. This would imply
that Ireland has reached the average
EU RES target as set down in
Directive 2001/77/EC.
But Do We Want It?
The answer is a resounding yes!
According to a recently completed
independent survey, wind energy has
been embraced by the Irish public as
a whole and even more strongly
endorsed by residents where wind
farms are planned and operational.
Lansdowne Market Research carried
out a study in 2003 - ‘Attitudes
towards wind farms in Ireland’, key
findings include:
• Three quarters of the general
Irish population would be
willing to support government
incentives to build wind farms
with eight out of ten believing
wind energy to be a good
thing.
• Two thirds of Irish adults are
favourable to having a wind
farm built in their locality with
little evidence of the not-in-mybackyard effect.
• Wind farms are more acceptable
than other structures such as
mobile phone masts, steel
electricity towers or power
stations.
To view the full report, presentations
and original questionnaires, see:
www.sei.ie/reio.htm
(Base: All Adults 15+)
Q: How favourable/
unfavourable are you
overall to the
construction of more
wind farms in Ireland?
TOTAL
Urban
Very favourable
43
48
Fairly favourable
38
38
Neither
Very unfavourable
Fairly unfavourable
13
2
3
15
1 1
Rural
Ever Seen
Windfarm
41
52
39
36
11
5
4
2
7
3