Wind power can deliver big gains for the country
We all want and need comfortable, warm houses. We all want and need low-cost energy bills. Both those things go without saying. But I’m saying it because I want to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the particular subject of wind energy. We need to be clear that wind power is one of the best ways of us meeting our energy needs. In recent times, however, wind generation has been getting confused with other energy provision issues.
The danger is that an opportunity will be lost. We need to stop the current government’s drive to privatise our wind assets. We need those assets transferred to communities across the country. We need to begin a revolution in depressed rural economies and create real, lasting jobs in the process. The community-based model is already successfully working throughout a number of countries, including Denmark and Germany, where smaller cooperatively-run wind projects are directly supporting communities by supplying their energy, jobs and economic benefits. With the best wind assets in Europe, and an underemployed but highly educated workforce, Ireland stands to be a massive winner from the energy revolution.
