Released June 23, 2011 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--Earlier this week at the British-Irish Council in London, energy ministers from the British Isles, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man signed the "All Islands Approach" agreement regarding energy resources. The agreement centres on adding more interconnectors between the islands to increase market integration and improve the security of supply across the British and Irish electricity markets. The aim of the plan is to open up remote regions that could provide Britain with more power generated by windfarms, as well as by tidal and wave plants.
The All Islands Approach will allow developers to exploit commercial opportunities for generation and transmission, particularly with respect to renewable energy resources. Although Britain has significant wind resources of its own, especially in Scotland, it does not have enough to meet its target of having 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.
While Britain has been criticised for falling short of its targets for constructing windfarms and reducing carbon emissions, investment in Ireland has been stunted by the size of the electricity market, as the cost of building windfarms cannot be justified if there is no market for their power. Exporting renewable power from Ireland to Britain would solve both of these issues.
The Irish Wind Energy Association (Naas, County Kildare) has estimated that Ireland has a wind generation potential of 6,000 megawatts (MW) from onshore and 4,000 MW from offshore, to meet the 2020 renewable targets Ireland needs to generate 4,500 to 5,000 MW per year, leaving a balance of 5,000 MW that could be exported to Britain, which at current electricity prices is worth 1.6 billion ($2.3 billion). The British government believes that the west coast and the seas around Ireland can provide them with a large amount of renewable energy and is considering directly subsidising electricity from these regions through its feed-in tariff system, which would be a subsidy to private investors operating in Irish territory. Also under consideration is the supplier obligation system, whereby British power companies would be mandated to buy a defined amount of renewable energy from Irish sources.
Commenting on the agreement, Charles Hendry, the U.K.'s Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: "There is a massive potential source of clean, green, secure energy that remains untapped in the Irish Sea and onshore in Ireland, as well as around the Channel Islands. But because Ireland's energy demand is only slightly larger than that of Yorkshire and Humberside, there has been little incentive to exploit the resource. Optimising the natural renewable resource available around our islands would benefit us all. It makes much more sense to develop and share clean, green, secure energy with our neighbours than import vast amounts of fossil fuels from far flung parts of the world."
A 500-MW link connecting the grids of Ireland and Britain is currently under construction at a cost of 600 million ($763.8 million), which will stretch across the Irish Sea from North Dublin to Wales. For additional information, see May 10, 2010, article - Eirgrid Secures Funding For Ireland-Wales Interconnector. Under the new scheme additional links will also be built between mainland Britain and Ireland, as well as the Isle of Man. Britain is also looking at building a new interconnector with France via the Channel Islands to allow power from the new Flamanville nuclear power station, which is currently under construction, to be imported to Britain.
View Project Report - 72000075
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
The All Islands Approach will allow developers to exploit commercial opportunities for generation and transmission, particularly with respect to renewable energy resources. Although Britain has significant wind resources of its own, especially in Scotland, it does not have enough to meet its target of having 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.
While Britain has been criticised for falling short of its targets for constructing windfarms and reducing carbon emissions, investment in Ireland has been stunted by the size of the electricity market, as the cost of building windfarms cannot be justified if there is no market for their power. Exporting renewable power from Ireland to Britain would solve both of these issues.
The Irish Wind Energy Association (Naas, County Kildare) has estimated that Ireland has a wind generation potential of 6,000 megawatts (MW) from onshore and 4,000 MW from offshore, to meet the 2020 renewable targets Ireland needs to generate 4,500 to 5,000 MW per year, leaving a balance of 5,000 MW that could be exported to Britain, which at current electricity prices is worth 1.6 billion ($2.3 billion). The British government believes that the west coast and the seas around Ireland can provide them with a large amount of renewable energy and is considering directly subsidising electricity from these regions through its feed-in tariff system, which would be a subsidy to private investors operating in Irish territory. Also under consideration is the supplier obligation system, whereby British power companies would be mandated to buy a defined amount of renewable energy from Irish sources.
Commenting on the agreement, Charles Hendry, the U.K.'s Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: "There is a massive potential source of clean, green, secure energy that remains untapped in the Irish Sea and onshore in Ireland, as well as around the Channel Islands. But because Ireland's energy demand is only slightly larger than that of Yorkshire and Humberside, there has been little incentive to exploit the resource. Optimising the natural renewable resource available around our islands would benefit us all. It makes much more sense to develop and share clean, green, secure energy with our neighbours than import vast amounts of fossil fuels from far flung parts of the world."
A 500-MW link connecting the grids of Ireland and Britain is currently under construction at a cost of 600 million ($763.8 million), which will stretch across the Irish Sea from North Dublin to Wales. For additional information, see May 10, 2010, article - Eirgrid Secures Funding For Ireland-Wales Interconnector. Under the new scheme additional links will also be built between mainland Britain and Ireland, as well as the Isle of Man. Britain is also looking at building a new interconnector with France via the Channel Islands to allow power from the new Flamanville nuclear power station, which is currently under construction, to be imported to Britain.
View Project Report - 72000075
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
