Wind in Ireland
Ireland has one of the greatest wind energy resources in Europe and it is important that we take advantage of this great indigenous natural resource for many reasons including: energy security, rising cost of imported energy, peak oil, economic reasons (jobs) and climate change.
The wind energy potential in Ireland is huge for both large scale wind farms and for domestic wind turbines. An estimate of the massive potential for wind energy was given in a recent study (ESBI) which found that "wind power could generate around 345TWh/y or around 19 times the current electricity production of the ESB system". Ireland could become an exporter of energy to Europe.
Ireland and Scotland have the greatest wind potential in Europe. Countries that have a lesser wind resource such as Germany have circa 15,000 megawatts of wind power and are further ahead of developing this resource than Ireland at the moment. Grid complications have slowed things down in Ireland but new and proposed interconnectors should give us the ability to import and export electricity in the coming years. At present there is a connection between Northern Ireland and Scotland which can import and export 250MW. There are plans for a 500MW east-west interconnector between Ireland and Wales. For comparison, Denmark has the ability at present to import and export 4000 - 5000 MW.
For more on wind MWs in Ireland, click here.