Green Party candidate makes howler on Pat Kenny this morning

[vincenzo1975]

Yes, in response to vincenzo1975, windpower is intermittent: that's why you need grids to link to where it's blowing at the moment, and back-up generating plants which may be too inefficient to be used on a permanent basis.

By grids, do you mean linking to the british Grid? so that would involve importing Nuclear energy to ireland, are you OK with this?

Or is there some magic kind of grid that only carries wind energy?

I think you also need to understand what efficiency means in energy generation and power plant technology. But then as we saw on Pat kenny this morning, green aspirations dont always match up with practical science.
Try this link, if your really interested. http://www.npc.org/Study_Topic_Paper...Efficiency.pdf

[manicstreetporter]

Alex White had it together ...

No he didn't. He could barely disguise his petulance at Lee being a candidate, sniping away.

Typical Labour - lawyer, media producer, narcissist.

[goosebump]

They are completely unreliable and swing up and down like a yoyo on a daily basis. when the wind blows too strong they cant generate, and when the wind blows too soft they cant generate, and when they need to be maintained they cant generate.

Wind energy, like every other kind of energy, can be converted and stored.

eg

you can use it to pump water up a hill into a resevoir. Then, when you need energy, you allow the water to fall through a turbine.

[amblincork]

The Green Party made the transition from being an environmental group to being a politicial party which exploits the environmental issue for political gain several years ago and many of its candidates going into the forthcoming elections are simply opportunists who could as easily fit into any of the other parties.
As the above interviews makes clear some of its people are remarkably ignorant.

[Earnest]

By grids, do you mean linking to the british Grid? so that would involve importing Nuclear energy to ireland, are you OK with this?

Or is there some magic kind of grid that only carries wind energy?

Of course grids carry electricity from all sources. But just as I have a contract with Airtricity by which they will supply me with wind energy whenever it's available, the Irish grid can have a contract with the British grid by which they will buy no nuclear energy. It's the same as buying in a shop: by your choices you select which suppliers the shopkeeper will buy from on your behalf, but you cannot prevent the shopkeeper from buying from the suppliers you don't want to patronise if he thinks he can sell their goods to somebody else.

[vincenzo1975]

you can use it to pump water up a hill into a resevoir. Then, when you need energy, you allow the water to fall through a turbine.

Nice idea, but this is not how these plants work due to the losses in energy that would occur if wind generation was used to pump water to a hydro plant. A Hydro plant requires a natural water source such as a dammed river. These are great plants, very very green, but I am not sure if we have the locations in ireland to build them on a large scale. There is also a significant environmental impact to these plants, as they cause severe changes to the ecosystems in the rivers and surrounding areas where they are built.

Also, your idea would be dependent on an overabundance of wind generated energy, which will never be the case, as it is too unreliable to get to a place where it iwould the dominant energy in a national grid.

[goosebump]

Nice idea, but this is not how these plants work due to the losses in energy that would occur if wind generation was used to pump water to a hydro plant. A Hydro plant requires a natural water source such as a dammed river. These are great plants, very very green, but I am not sure if we have the locations in ireland to build them on a large scale. There is also a significant environmental impact to these plants, as they cause severe changes to the ecosystems in the rivers and surrounding areas where they are built.

Also, your idea would be dependent on an overabundance of wind generated energy, which will never be the case, as it is too unreliable to get to a place where it iwould the dominant energy in a national grid.

You don't have to have a natural water source. You can create a man made resevoir.

eg

Poolaphuca in Wicklow

And this is just one idea.

You can also use wind enery to create compressed air, which you can then release into a turbine when the energy is required.

[vincenzo1975]

You don't have to have a natural water source. You can create a man made resevoir.

eg

Poolaphuca in Wicklow


You can also use wind enery to create compressed air, which you can then release into a turbine when the energy is required.

dont like to keep bursting your bubbles but....

Poulaphouca (Irish: Poll an Phúca, meaning "The Ghost's Hole") is a tiny village located in County Wicklow, Ireland, on the border with County Kildare. It is primarily known for its hydroelectric generating station and artificial lake, known as Poulaphouca Reservoir, Poulaphouca Lake, or Blessington Lake. The once famous Poulaphouca Waterfall has little water running over it any longer due to the hydroelectric project.
Reservoir
The reservoir at Poulaphouca has been designated as a Special Protection Area by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and is of international importance for its Greylag Goose population. The reservoir was created in the late 1930s and early 1940s by damming the River Liffey as part of a collaboration between the ESB and Dublin City Council to build a second hydroelectric station in Ireland while the reservoir could be used to supply water to the Dublin region

Poulaphouca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not the best example to use from a green perspective. seems to run in the family huh?

Not really sure how to respond to your compressed air idea, would that be compressed Hot air?

[vincenzo1975]

Of course grids carry electricity from all sources. But just as I have a contract with Airtricity by which they will supply me with wind energy whenever it's available, the Irish grid can have a contract with the British grid by which they will buy no nuclear energy. It's the same as buying in a shop: by your choices you select which suppliers the shopkeeper will buy from on your behalf, but you cannot prevent the shopkeeper from buying from the suppliers you don't want to patronise if he thinks he can sell their goods to somebody else.

Heres an interesting chesnut for you to nibble on.
lets say airtricity can only produce 100MW of power, but have contracts to sell 300MW or power on any given day. Where do you think they fulfill their contract from. It wouldn't be those nasty fossil fuel burning power plants would it? Oh wait, maybe this is what the carbin credit trading system is for, just to balance it all out, or something like that. I am not sure, Im just guessing, maybe you could check it out for me and give me the answer.

[wombat]

You can also use wind enery to create compressed air, which you can then release into a turbine when the energy is required.

You can use windpower to generate electricity which can be used however you like but compressing air would not be a very good idea. Have a look at Spiritofireland.org website for some very useful information of the practical problems associated with using windpower. Although they are an organisation promoting windpower and pumped storage, they are technically competant and not just wishful thinkers.