Wind energy makes electricity cheaper for all of us
To have got the central point so wrong is not only handing hostages to fortune, but renders everything suspect
Airtricity has no contract with the ESB. It never had. Airtricity built the wind farms and sells the output to its customers. It sells this green electricity at a price below what the ESB charges.
The money to build the farms came from Airtricity’s own equity and bank debt.
The transfer of wealth Mr Keane refers to happened the other way round — 38,000 Irish commercial customers get cheaper electricity because of Airtricity.
What’s more, because the wind is a free source, it is accepted onto the system first and displaces the most expensive unit of dirty electricity made from fossils.
So not only do Airtricity customers gain, but every customer has cheaper electricity as a result.
Airtricity is also responsible for bringing Scottish and Southern Energy into the Irish electricity set-up as a result of its recent sale to them.
With this move a big new electricity company has come in to offer better value to the Irish customer — the only one to do so.
When the wind blew strongly in Germany and Denmark in November and December 2006, electricity traded at zero for much of the time. All but wind and nuclear was turned off.
The price of gas was also forced down because demand fell in proportion to how much wind was blowing.
The simple fact is: wind subsidises fossil-fired generation.
Mr Keane, unfortunately, appears to know nothing of electricity dispatch. Of course wind is not backed up 100% with fossils.
Over a short period wind is predictable and adds nothing to the normal system back-up requirements.
When all else fails, why not a few facts?
Eddie O’Connor
Chief Executive
Airtricity
Airtricity House
Ravenscourt Office Park
Sandyford
Dublin 18
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