Windfarms to provide 800mw to national grid

UP to 800 megawatts of electricity power generated by windfarms will soon be connected to the national grid.

ESB Networks said this has the potential to supply power to hundreds of thousands of Irish homes in the near future.

The company, part of the ESB, said 600mw of grid connection contracts with windfarm companies have been put in place by ESB National Grid and ESB Networks, and those wind farms are under construction nationwide.

This is addition to the existing 211mw of windfarms already connected to the power system and supplying customers.

The ESB National Grid said that it is confident that, working in conjunction with the wind industry and other interested parties, increasing amounts of wind energy can be accommodated on the Irish power system, while maintaining overall stability of the national power network.

The national grid and ESB Networks have submitted a document to the Commission to Electricity Regulation (CER) setting out potential ideas on grouping applications for windfarm connections.

The CER has launched a consultation process on this concept. This follows an industry workshop held by ESB National Grid.

This idea centres around the grouping of renewable generators located in the same region, so that connections could be dealt with simultaneously.

This could significantly cut the overall time to provide connection offers to present wind farm applicants.