Record Low Winds, Rising Electricity Bills

The past month saw record low levels of wind energy adding to the woes of an already financially struggling wind industry. The month of June was comparable to the winters of 2009 and 2010 which also saw very low winds, the difference being that back then the temperatures were very low. These long periods of near non existent wind not only undermine the Government's wind plans, but also seriously undermine the viability of wind storage.  This was Gaelectric's plan, to expand into storage, until they went into liquidation. Their remaining wind farm assets have not attracted a buyer over six months later.

Electricity Bills to Rise

With the recent news that electricity prices are set to rise because of rising wholesale prices, consumers may begin to ask questions as to why wind has not reduced the wholesale price as was promised by all the experts when the Government were preparing their wind energy plans. It is a sobering fact that Ireland's electricity market is still subject to the vagaries of worldwide fossil fuel prices despite having 3,000MW of wind farms, enough capacity to meet 85% of total electricity demand on a summers day or over half of demand on a winters day. 

Ten years after the banking crash, Ireland still has no independent organisation that can review Government policy independently, instead we have plenty of "think-tanks" that rubber stamp policy, including the same ones that supported the wild west lending policies during the boom. The ordinary consumers are the ones paying the cost.