Green energy has potential to create 600,000 new EU jobs

I WISH to correct assertions by Aidan McMahon (‘Renewables aid does more harm than good’, Letters, March 30) when he quoted research from Spain in a curious attempt at rebutting the need for public aid to capitalise on the vast opportunity presented by the renewable energy sector for the Irish economy.

In quoting this “research”, Mr McMahon failed to acknowledge that the methodology used in the study was widely criticised on its publication in 2009. The reality is that the study is largely based on assumptions, few of them documented or proven. The research does not point to any job losses that are directly attributable to investment in renewable energy.

As the Wall Street Journal reported at the time: “The study doesn’t actually identify those jobs allegedly destroyed by renewable energy spending. What the study actually says is that government spending on renewable energy is less than half as efficient at job creation as private sector spending.”

The American Wind Energy Association has also noted this study was penned by unknown researchers loosely affiliated with Spain’s Juan Carlos University and funded by US fossil energy groups. The Spanish ministry of labour found that, contrary to the Spanish study, renewable energy industries have created 175,000 jobs and the European Commission has recently indicated that “meeting the EU’s objective of 20% of renewable sources of energy alone has the potential to create more than 600,000 jobs in the EU”.

So much does the research fly in the face of the Spanish experience in relation to job creation from the wind energy sector that US President Barack Obama, in promising to create millions of new green jobs, cited Spain as having “surged ahead” of the rest of the world by investing in renewable energy.

The vast opportunity for Ireland in wind energy in terms of jobs and investment is now well recognised and to deliver on this, 2010 will, indeed, be a “make or break year” for the green economy.

Caitríona Diviney

Chief Operating OfficerIrish Wind Energy Association

Osberstown

Naas

Co Kildare