Green energy - Country can become a world leader

In its latest report, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland finds that Ireland is rapidly becoming a world leader in the provision of wind energy for electricity generation.

The share of electricity generated from renewable resources last year was 14.4%, and two thirds of that was from wind.

The level of energy generated from renewable resources was sufficient to power 750,000 homes, half of the homes in the country.

The industrial revolution was largely associated with energy in the form of coal. By the latter half of the last century, oil was replacing coal, and renewable and nuclear sources of energy will likely replace oil and coal before the end of this century.

Although the current financial crisis is deflecting public attention, there are encouraging developments that should not be obscured by the current gloom, or the fact that Irish electricity prices are presently 7% above the average in the European Union. The prices have actually been coming down in Ireland.

The cost of electricity for business here has dropped between 5% and 10%, while gas prices for businesses have fallen by up to 26%. Gas prices in Ireland are currently below the EU average for business consumers.

Energy Minister Éamon Ryan is encouraged by developments. He noted that significant progress has been made, and the country is well positioned to meet the Government’s renewable energy target of generating 15% of the country’s power by the end of this year.

Another goal is to use wind power to generate 40% of the country’s energy by 2020. The country’s potential seems almost limitless in this area.

The drawbacks of the traditional forms of energy are becoming ever more apparent, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, where efforts are at a crucial stage to plug the well that is daily gushing 5,000 barrels of crude oil into the sea, following the fire and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April. The whole thing threatens to become the greatest ecological disasters of modern times.

Ireland has not only the potential to become self-sufficient in energy but could actually become a significant exporter of renewable energy into mainland Europe. This should be the central phase of the next stage of the country’s economic development.

“Ireland is uniquely positioned in terms of our renewable energy resources,” the Sustainable Energy Authority contends in its latest five-year strategic plan. “We have the best wind and ocean potential in the world, and we need to move now to ensure that this potential is harnessed to the country’s benefit in the years and decades ahead.”

For so long this country was at the end of the energy line – needing to import the bulk of our energy resources. The latest developments hold out the brightest prospects for potential economic expansion.

The Government and private industry deserve congratulations for helping to develop this clean form of indigenous energy.