Kevin Myers on wind power in todays Sindo 31-08-2010

[energy]

We can have the nuclear debate in two years time as we won't have to worry about the greens then.....

what about these interconnectors that are getting built between ireland and the uk/europe... wouldn't some of the electricity supplied come from nuclear plants in those countries...? so isn't it a bit hypocritical to say no to any debate on nuclear in Ireland...?

Yes - in fact this was debated during the committee stage when the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 was being drafted - Myers makes reference to the debate ...

Yet not long ago, a Green minister signed the agreement to import electricity from Britain, although this must inevitably must contain nuclear-generated elements.

But this sort of nonsense is not new. As far back as 1999, Emmet Stagg of Labour fretted about how it might be possible for us to buy electricity from Northern Ireland (which we did and do) without some of it being nuclear. Looking the gift horse in the mouth, he saw some troubling masonry beyond the molars.

"If this problem is not addressed, we will run into a stone wall," he prognosticated sagely, before asking of Mary O'Rourke: "How will the minister prevent nuclear power being generated here through the interconnector?"

the ban on nuclear was based on a "request" from Trevor Sergent to Mary O'Rourke during the discussions.

The government did not undertake any technical or environmental studies or even perform a cost benefit analysis to justify the ban.

If you don't believe me send an AEI request (free of charge) to the department and ask for the info.

[Franzoni]

Yes.

Yes, but is there anyone doing that?

No..but it should start....energy supplies especially electricity have to be secure and with the volatile politicial and economic climate prevailing worldwide,we should make sure we are self sufficent in this department...

personally i don't care if it nuclear,wind,wave or whatever but it has to work and be there 24/7 ..365.... and to me nuclear is the only thing that could do that at the moment...we shouldn't be depending on the brits,french or whoever ..what if something in future happened and they literally pulled the plug...?...something like what the russians did with the gas supplies a few years back....

[EoinMn]

So you erred when you claimed he wrote "solely" then. Agreed.

I didn't claim he wrote the word "solely". My interpretation of what he said included that word, but stands without that word too.

And a policy to use wind power "when it is available" is just stupid and wasteful beyond belief. That is his criticism and the criticism of contributors here.

That is your interpretation of what Myers is saying.

[QUOTE=Tombo;2960062Windpower can't be relied on at all, so we need 100% reliable backup. And if we have 100% reliable backup capacity, we might as well not spend any money on wind generation. The case against wind is as simple as that.[/QUOTE]If only it were that simple, but it is not.

[sparkey321]

"depended on wind technology "

There you go.

The current policy is to use wind power when available, and -gasp- not use it when it is not available.

So we build wind capacity and then build a backup station and employ people to stand around doing SFA until the wind stops ?

Very efficient.

Especially when you consider that its typically backed up by OCGT plants which are up to 40% less than "normal" CCGT plants.

[Franzoni]

Yes - in fact this was debated during the committee stage when the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 was being drafted - Myers makes reference to the debate ...



the ban on nuclear was based on a "request" from Trevor Sergent to Mary O'Rourke during the discussions.

The government did not undertake any technical or environmental studies or even perform a cost benefit analysis to justify the ban.

If you don't believe me send an AEI request (free of charge) to the department and ask for the info.

Thanks for the info i haven't seen the article by Myers...

typicial of the greens ..learning to talk out of both sides of the mouth and blow it out of their arse at the same time..must of learned it off their mates in FF...

it really shows their hypocrisy that their happy to buy nuclear generated electricity but won't entertain any thoughts of letting us produce our own..

[EoinMn]

it really shows their hypocrisy that their happy to buy nuclear generated electricity but won't entertain any thoughts of letting us produce our own..

Fianna Fail banned the generation of nuclear power in Ireland (about 20 years ago), not the Green Party. Although, I don't think any party opposed the ban.

[EoinMn]

Very efficient.

Not using a simple euro-spent-per-kw-produced metric.

But once you take into account
The Kyoto Protocol fines
EU-wide renewable energy generation targets
Job Creation
Energy Security
Advancements in technology
The emergence of wave power
Rural economic development
etc, etc, you see it is not that simple.

Of course some of these things listed, an engineer would scoff at. But heres a surprise: Politicians think politically.

[CookieMonster]

What's wrong with nuclear power?

[cry freedom]

What's wrong with nuclear power?

What indeed?

[Franzoni]

Fianna Fail banned the generation of nuclear power in Ireland (about 20 years ago), not the Green Party. Although, I don't think any party opposed the ban.

There was me thinking it was Christy Moore.......

So the Greens aren't opposed to nuclear...?