This week, two myths about renewables were exploded. First, Bord na Mona, announced that there would be job losses as they moved away from peat harvesting and changed their focus to renewables. Trade Union leaders have estimated that the job losses could be anywhere between 300 and 850 in the next decade.
Unite regional officer Ed Thompson said decarbonisation will result in further job losses.
Back in 2015, the Government were announcing wide scale job creation in their renewable energy White Paper :
And we are committed to supporting businesses, workers and communities to make the transition away from older energy technologies – in the direction of new jobs, new technologies, and new opportunities.
Our energy transition will present further opportunities for job creation and economic growth. For example, it has been estimated that measures required to meet our 2020 renewable energy targets could deliver between 2,500 and 5,550 jobs in the bioenergy sector and up to 4,000 in onshore wind deployment
The media lapped this up at the time. But now reality is hitting home. I for one, am in favor of moving away from peat but the only viable job creating and sustainable alternative is fracking or offshore exploration. The Corrib natural gas field created 1,000 jobs during development.
The other myth that was exploded this week was that wind farms are not damaging to wildlife. A UCC study that even RTE reported on showed that
Irish bird populations decrease in the areas immediately adjacent to wind turbines.The study found that the main reason appears to be the clearing of habitats during the construction of the wind farms.
The idea that closing down these bogs making BNM employees redundant is to reduce co2 emissions. Is a bit of a joke. BNM wind farms already constructed in the midlands are operating so poorly.They are more likely to be increasing emissions.It is also likely that ,assuming no hidden subsidies, that these wind farms are loosing substantial amounts of money. Why did BNM directors make enquiries as to whether BNM had adequate resources to " to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements." One could question as to whether it is more related to BNM continuing to trade as a going concern than reducing co2 emissions..
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that the town of Belmullet, Co.Mayo Ireland is booming since the Corrib gas field development. The removal of the peat bogs has environmental consequences. They acted as a sponge soaking rainfall in the Irish midlands and they delayed that water reaching the river systems including the river Shannon, There have been several instances of flooding which the media blames on climate change.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to wind and solar, either I am correct in saying neither work or I am wrong in which case they will work. There is no doubt that from the 25th May 2018 to the present they did not work. Load factors were abysmally low and not existent for long summer periods.
The metric for construction jobs for a 10 turbine wind farm construction are (per turbine):
ReplyDeleteAccess Roads and Hardstanding - 0.48 man-years (20 men for 60 days)/no turbines
Foundation - 1.2 man-years (15 men for 20 days)
Erection - 0.26 man-years (8 men for 8 days)
Substation and Grid Connection - 0.15 man-years (6 men for 60 days)/no turbines
Commissioning - 0.16 man-years (4 men for 10 days)
Total - 1.17 man-years/turbine
4000 jobs in onshore wind farm deployment requires construction of 3418 wind turbines per annum (4000/1.17). On present sizes, this is the addition of 10.26GW capacity per annum (3418 x 3/1000), for a country with a peak demand of 6GW.
The government must be planning on exponentially increasing electricity exports.