Government to set wind power price for 15 years

WIND power promoters have received a major boost after the Government set guaranteed prices for any electricity they produce for the next 15 years.

The guarantee applies to companies who set up offshore wind farms and Energy Minister Eamon Ryan said it would help Ireland achieve a target of meeting 42% of the country’s power needs from green energy by 2020.

The set price is above what it costs to buy in gas and oil, meaning the taxpayer will have to fork out more for the initiative at the outset, but Mr Ryan said electricity costs would fall in the longer term.

“The wind is going to be free forever and a day — there is no cost on that — the only cost is getting the technology in place,” he said.

Greater use of green energy would also reduce the financial penalties Ireland will have to pay for breaching greenhouse gas emission limits.

Just one offshore windfarm is currently operating, the Airtricity project off the Co Wicklow coast, which produces 25 megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 125,000 households — but licences have been approved to four other operators for production of a further 1,600 megawatts.

Their representative group, the National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW), said the price guarantee — called a feed-in tariff — was the kickstart they needed to begin building their windmills.

“In under 15 years, we will have to build an infrastructure capable of generating at least one-third of our electricity from renewable sources,” said NOW spokesman Torben Andersen.

“Building the infrastructure to achieve that goal requires a partnership between government and private investors. The announcement of a feed-in tariff by Minister Ryan indicates that the Government sees the importance of offshore wind.”

The move to boost wind energy production comes amid rising oil and gas prices and warnings of depleting international sources that will not be able to meet growing demand in the long run.

Technology costs and the physical challenges of building at sea have traditionally made promoters reluctant to build off-shore wind farms without State guarantees to buy and buy at a set price. But NOW said its members were ready to unleash a €4bn investment now the agreements were in place.

Mr Ryan also revealed that his department was working on a joint project with Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland with a view to building undersea transmission links to share wind-generated power.

That interconnector could in turn link up with a Europe-wide grid, which is at research stage. “It would mean that there would be a consistent energy supply wherever the wind is blowing,” Mr Ryan said.