Wind power just a load of hot air

IT is an unfortunate fact of nature that during periods of cold weather, such as the one we are currently enduring, there tends to be little wind. At the same time there’s an increased demand for electricity.

On December 1, at the peak demand time of 5 pm, wind managed to contribute less than a tenth of the demand. Furthermore, and of greater significance, wind operated at less than one quarter of the installed wind capacity. In fact, during the whole of 2010 so far, the capacity factor was only 21%.

The consequence of this inefficiency is that the backlog of demand has to be supplied by burning fossil fuels, thereby contributing to environmental pollution.

The government continues to ignore proposals put forward by a number of professional bodies that nuclear power should be seriously considered as part of our energy mix. Now, instead of conducting cost-benefit analyses of dubious proposals, it continues to subsidise some of them at ludicrously high rates. We need decisions based on data not dogma.

Voters should remember that wind power, so beloved by the Green Party, is capable of supplying but a small proportion of our electricity needs, and that it frequently fails under weather conditions when there is the greatest need for energy.

David Sowby

Knocksinna Crescent

Dublin 18