Spiritofireland.org - suggests energy independence in five years and much more

[energy]

First birthday, a lot done, a hell of a lot more to do.

What exactly has been done ?

I've been reading through this thread and can't find any evidence of a solid proposal.

The Spirit of Ireland website hasn't changed since the summer and still talks of energy independence in 5 years.

[Christel]

wombat

Pay attention to the planning application column's from April or May onwards, the first clue's will be there.

First birthday, a lot done, a hell of a lot more to do.

Will the proposal be entered into the Your Country Your Call competition?

[fiannafailure]

What exactly has been done ?

I've been reading through this thread and can't find any evidence of a solid proposal.

The Spirit of Ireland website hasn't changed since the summer and still talks of energy independence in 5 years.

This is an enormous project, spanning many areas and will positively impact the lives of every citizen of the country. The S of I launch last summer was simply to publicly announce the broad proposal to the public, since then the work has been ongoing. We learnt very quickly that openness is a two pronged instrument, when we lost one of our best sites to a speculator.

We remain open to the participation of anybody and full disclosure is available before anyone commits time to the project, we are moving into the investment phase very soon and again full disclosure will be the name of the game. Participation is available to everyone, land owner, millionaire or pauper, international pension company or local GAA club, at this stage no money changes hands, simply time commitment, and we are on target to be producing energy in 5 years time.

I notice this was your first post and you chose a username to go along with it, if you wish a personal briefing PM me.

Will the proposal be entered into the Your Country Your Call competition?

Christel

I believe that some of our supporters have already mentioned us.

[SAT]

What exactly has been done ?

I've been reading through this thread and can't find any evidence of a solid proposal.

The Spirit of Ireland website hasn't changed since the summer and still talks of energy independence in 5 years.

I second that. What exactly has happened in the last 12 months?

fiannafailure's claim of 'a lot' doesn't really tell us much

How about an executive summary of the highlights?

[energy]

fiannafailure's claim of 'a lot' doesn't really tell us much

How about an executive summary of the highlights?

Agreed.

Apparently there was "a lot done" before the launch last May.

The press release which accompanied the launch claimed ...

"Over the past six months a team of very experienced Engineers, Academics, Architects, Geologists, Hydro Geologists, Environmental Engineers, Construction Experts, Consultants, Legal and Finance professionals have been working intensively on ideas proposed by Professor Igor Shvets of Trinity College. The results of this work have stunning implications for our country."

From reading this voluminous thread it seems that this work has been discredited and obtaining consistent data from the team has been impossible.

What has changed since then ?

[fiannafailure]

I second that. What exactly has happened in the last 12 months?

fiannafailure's claim of 'a lot' doesn't really tell us much

How about an executive summary of the highlights?

An executive summary of progress to date eh, how about a summary of a summary.

One evening about 13 months ago there was a lecture in Trinity College, that lecture inspired a group of people to investigate the properties of a natural energy power station, a power station that can compete in every way and on every level with a fossil fuelled thermal power station, yet have a tiny carbon footprint and enable Ireland to be self reliant for its source of electricity, to whatever extent was necessary or it could provide a source of wealth generation by exporting the energy,

The problems as perceived a year ago were, it was a totally new concept which needed to be understood by the group and then the rest of the country, it would need changes to the planning system to enable more certainty in the process, both for design and investment purposes and also to help bring down the overall cost of the process.

To enable the greatest return to the country, it should be owned to the greatest extent possible, by ordinary Irish people.

For economic and technical reasons the average wind farm needed to increase, on average by a factor of ten.

13 months later. we now have the Clare wind strategy which is a model of the planning system envisaged, it is designed to enable larger wind farms in the most appropriate locations and also encourages electrical storage.

This example is now being encouraged in every county on the western seaboard.

This type of innovation in the preparation of county development plans cannot be solely claimed by the S of I group, it is an enhancement of the ideas which forward thinking people in local government had already been working on, but its implementation and adoption was greatly helped by individuals in S of I, and this work continues daily, we had meetings with 2 County councils yesterday for example.

We now have at least 20 energy co ops set up and working on their own plans to develop large windfarms and more are added monthly.

The largest community co op owned windfarm in Europe is now in the planning system with a decision due very soon, with 8 more almost ready to enter the system.

We have engaged with five of the largest turbine manufacturers in a competition to bring the cost of installing wind energy in Ireland down by at least 30% and have already beaten that target with more to come.

We have engaged with the EU regarding environmental, funding and market concerns and have received a blueprint of what must be done in these areas and have started work on the detail of this.

We have now engaged formally with the Irish government in a process expected to last at least 6 months.

And we have begun the funding process to bring that almost €4 billion euro investment to Ireland.

Agreed.

Apparently there was "a lot done" before the launch last May.

The press release which accompanied the launch claimed ...

"Over the past six months a team of very experienced Engineers, Academics, Architects, Geologists, Hydro Geologists, Environmental Engineers, Construction Experts, Consultants, Legal and Finance professionals have been working intensively on ideas proposed by Professor Igor Shvets of Trinity College. The results of this work have stunning implications for our country."

From reading this voluminous thread it seems that this work has been discredited and obtaining consistent data from the team has been impossible.

What has changed since then ?

See above, I am still engaged with your username, I attempted to PM you and found that you do not wish to be contacted, pity about that as talking is the best medium in which to elicit information, you might wish to amend your profile to enable messaging, who knows what people might wish to tell you about.

[energy]

An executive summary of progress to date eh, how about a summary of a summary.

One evening about 13 months ago there was a lecture in Trinity College, that lecture inspired a group of people to investigate the properties of a natural energy power station, a power station that can compete in every way and on every level with a fossil fuelled thermal power station, yet have a tiny carbon footprint and enable Ireland to be self reliant for its source of electricity, to whatever extent was necessary or it could provide a source of wealth generation by exporting the energy,.

No change since May.

The problems as perceived a year ago were, it was a totally new concept which needed to be understood by the group and then the rest of the country, it would need changes to the planning system to enable more certainty in the process, both for design and investment purposes and also to help bring down the overall cost of the process.

No change since May.

To enable the greatest return to the country, it should be owned to the greatest extent possible, by ordinary Irish people.

No change since May.

For economic and technical reasons the average wind farm needed to increase, on average by a factor of ten.

No change since May.

13 months later. we now have the Clare wind strategy which is a model of the planning system envisaged, it is designed to enable larger wind farms in the most appropriate locations and also encourages electrical storage.

This example is now being encouraged in every county on the western seaboard.

The strategy states in relation to hydrostorage states "A broad statement of support will be developed as a new policy". Seems a bit waffly but at least it is recognised.

This type of innovation in the preparation of county development plans cannot be solely claimed by the S of I group, it is an enhancement of the ideas which forward thinking people in local government had already been working on, but its implementation and adoption was greatly helped by individuals in S of I, and this work continues daily, we had meetings with 2 County councils yesterday for example.

Same as above.

We now have at least 20 energy co ops set up and working on their own plans to develop large windfarms and more are added monthly.

Are they going to connect to the Spirit of Ireland Grid (backed up by pumped storage) or do we need to add more OCGT on the National Grid to support these ?

The largest community co op owned windfarm in Europe is now in the planning system with a decision due very soon, with 8 more almost ready to enter the system.

Same as above

We have engaged with five of the largest turbine manufacturers in a competition to bring the cost of installing wind energy in Ireland down by at least 30% and have already beaten that target with more to come.

We have engaged with the EU regarding environmental, funding and market concerns and have received a blueprint of what must be done in these areas and have started work on the detail of this.

We have now engaged formally with the Irish government in a process expected to last at least 6 months.

And we have begun the funding process to bring that almost €4 billion euro investment to Ireland.

What specifically are you looking for from the Irish Government ?

[fiannafailure]

[quote=energy;2479727]

No change since May.
No change since May.
No change since May.
No change since May.

The strategy states in relation to hydrostorage states "A broad statement of support will be developed as a new policy". Seems a bit waffly but at least it is recognised.

Yes it is recognised, see also the latest generation adequact report from Eirgrid, where pumped storage is now being studied seriously.
http://www.eirgrid.com/media/Generat...02010-2016.pdf

This subject of course is now being discussed and studied internationally as a solution to renewable intermittancy and it is now EU policy to promote storage wherever possible.

Same as above.

If it was easy anybody could do it, seriously, these are large issues and must follow a democratic process, rest assured we are doing everything in our power to speed the process, in the case of Clare it took 11 months approx

Are they going to connect to the Spirit of Ireland Grid (backed up by pumped storage) or do we need to add more OCGT on the National Grid to support these ?

That depends more on planning considerations than anything else, it is what is called a chicken and egg situation, but someone must make the first move.

Your question is very relevant though because if we are serious about our CO2 emissions and do want to incur large EU carbon penalties, we cannot continue to put more wind on the grid if it is dependent on Open Cycle Gas Turbine spinning reserve.

Same as above

These windfarm Co Ops should of course be built in tandem with storage and that is why we are working so hard.

What specifically are you looking for from the Irish Government ?

I would hope that we can enter discussions based on what we can do for each other, from our point of view it would be helpful, if, after receiving our data and back up, and after we had answered their questions satisfactorily, the government or some of its agencies may wish to play a role in impementing the project.

I am content to answer fully any question that does not require me to reveal the detail, or in some circumstances, the actual organisation or person, of any confidential negotiations or discussions, this is S of I policy and has enabled us to draw on an enormous amount of resources from all kinds of organisations.

As an example, we have entered discussions with land owners and relevent planning authorities, regarding site selection, in the normal course of events the location of these sites will I am sure become known, but those details will not be made public by S of I.

[SAT]

So basically S of I initial project proposal has either morphed into something else entirely and far less ambitious or it has simply stalled.

It seems from fiannafailure's post S of I now claim the credit for the production of wind farms as a strategic success for their organisation (despite these being around for many years). I am curious to know just how many of Ireland's 124 installed wind farms, containing 1,153 turbines, they claim the credit for?

Noticeably absent from his post is (apart from a nod towards extolling what a worthwhile goal it is) any detail whatsoever on the core part of the initial proposal which was energy storage.

[energy]

So basically S of I initial project proposal has either morphed into something else entirely and far less ambitious or it has simply stalled.

Sounds like it has stalled - although many meetings may have taken place nothing substantial has been produced or revealed to the public.

Noticeably absent from his post is (apart from a nod towards extolling what a worthwhile goal it is) any detail whatsoever on the core part of the initial proposal which was energy storage.

Yes - seems more of a support group for wind energy.

That depends more on planning considerations than anything else, it is what is called a chicken and egg situation, but someone must make the first move.

Your question is very relevant though because if we are serious about our CO2 emissions and do want to incur large EU carbon penalties, we cannot continue to put more wind on the grid if it is dependent on Open Cycle Gas Turbine spinning reserve.

You are progressing with 20 wind co-ops and your criteria states they must be 10 times greater than current windfarms. Take the Mount Callan development in Clare Plans for Clare wind farm unveiled - The Irish Times - Thu, May 28, 2009 which is your model co-op. Using their 90MW installed capacity as a typical figure means you are planning on adding another 1800MW of wind to the Grid. According to Eirgrid "There are in excess of 200 applications representing approximately 4000MW of wind under
the Gate 3 programme." (http://www.eirgrid.com/media/EirGrid...s%20Report.pdf). Do you plan to skip the queue ?

That depends more on planning considerations than anything else, it is what is called a chicken and egg situation, but someone must make the first move..

In your earlier posts in this thread you state a major problem is that the areas where the best load factors are to be obtained are not close to the National Grid hence you needed to build your own (running in a North-South direction). How can you have the option of connecting to both ???

Sounds like you are getting peoples hopes up about connecting to an imaginary Grid or else you are locating windfarms with poor load factors close to the existing Grid.