Seanad debates

Thursday, 25 November 2010

Renewable Energy: Statements

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Niall Ó BrolcháinNiall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

It is certainly not a flaky thing now and it is still a Green thing. We would be delighted if other parties looked for ownership of the issue. People use interesting phrases when they talk to me about this. Senator Carroll referred to the wind Arabs and that we have the potential to be the wind Arabs of the future. We need to be careful about this because we are talking about sustainable and renewable energy. I do not want to see us creating another housing bubble regarding renewable energy. Renewable energy is sustainable. A windmill lasts for 20 years but the capacity is such that, allowing for replacement of windmills as they fail, it can go on for ever and a day. As long as the wind keeps blowing, which it has done heretofore as long as humanity can remember and will continue to blow day in, day out not withstanding the current financial situation, if we get this right we can create wealth that will go on forever and a day. That is worth fighting for. Comparisons with the Arabs are disingenuous because oil will run out. As long as the sun keeps shining, wind will continue. There is great potential here. We must be careful about this. One of the criticisms in my part of the country, where there is an increasing number of wind farms, is that when a wind farm is built on a hill, no one locally knows who is responsible for it and no one locally has a job out of it or an interest in it. The energy is potentially exported to another part of the country. This may be within the country at the moment but we are talking about massive wind exports.

Sometimes in this Chamber I get mixed up between megawatts and gigawatts just as people get mixed up between millions and billions. The comparison between a gigawatt and a billion and a megawatt and a million is appropriate. Electricity usage in this country is between 5 GW and 6 GW, which is 5,000-6,000 MW. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources tells me that planning permission for renewable energy, especially wind, provides for 15 GW. If all of those wind farms are built, which is unlikely, we would double the capacity for wind. This does not include the proposals of the Spirit of Ireland group, which Senator Butler will tell us about shortly. It does not include other major projects that are being pushed forward. The Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, referred to offshore territory around this country, which has major potential. Neither does it include the amount of potential in wave power, which is unfortunately an unproven technology. We cannot start building wave machines or tidal machines because there is a problem with the rate of attrition with regard to the devices pioneered throughout the world. That technology is a number of years away but it will come. It should be possible to harness major amounts of wave energy in this country. We should be a major exporter of renewable energy to Europe and the world.

Senator O'Toole referred to the fact there is not an infinite need for energy across Europe. From what I have studied, we will be able to export any energy we produce if we build the proper interconnectors and ensure the grid is properly put in place. Senator O'Toole made an important point that I have heard before about electric vehicles. The Minister of State gave a very good speech on electric vehicles. Senator O'Toole pointed out that renewable energy storage could be developed in electric vehicles. A way of storing intermittent wind energy is in the batteries of cars or other vehicles. We should also consider the electrification of the railway system because its capacity is important. We have not done enough on this matter. Why not look at the railway system as the backbone for transmitting energy? Why can we not bury wires underground in parallel to the railways across the country? We have an interesting railway network that is in State ownership. Why not look at the railway system if we are to export major amounts of energy, as suggested by the Spirit of Ireland group? I refer to the bits and bobs mentioned by Senator Hannigan. We must consider the reality of how we can do things. This will take major amounts of investment but other countries see the potential in Ireland. The investment will come and I have had many meetings with potential investors. Major amounts of money are available to us from countries interested in investing in our renewable energy potential, such as China. I would rule out nothing in this area.

People talk to me about this being a pre-boom period in terms of renewable energy. If we can get this right, we can dig ourselves out of the current difficult financial situation. It is important to concentrate on proven technologies so we maximise wind power and the grid. We should also consider hydropower, which is consistent.

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