We need more wind — not more wind farms
Irish Independent, www.independent.ie 25 April 2011Irish Independent, www.independent.ie 25 April 2011
Irish Independent, www.independent.ie 25 April 2011Irish Independent, www.independent.ie 25 April 2011
The report on state assets by Colm McCarthy’s committee contains a section on energy that seems to have escaped the attention of the media.
The report refers to the intermittent nature of wind, which imposes the necessity for wind power to be backed up by conventional generating plant depending on fossil fuels.
According to Eirgrid data, from April 14 to 20 there was so little wind that it barely generated more than a few per cent of the demand for electricity; for only a few hours on April 18 did wind produce just over 10pc of the demand for electricity.
Constructing more wind farms would not alleviate the problem, since the whole country is often subject to inadequate wind to drive the turbines.
David Sowby
Dublin 18
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/25/we-need-more-wind-not-more-wind-farms/