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EARLIER THIS MONTH, the Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte revealed that wind energy contributed more energy than ever to the national grid one windy evening last December.
1866 megawatts, 42 per cent of our total electricity needs at the time, was generated and fed into the grid, according to the Minister. Furthermore, the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) has predicted that 18 per cent of demand last year was met by wind energy.
But what do the other figures on wind energy reveal? TheJournal.ie got our the pencils and spreadsheets out and crunched some numbers…
Firstly, how much is a megawatt?
A megawatt (MW) is the main unit of measurement. At any one time in Ireland, roughly 3500MW is required to power our homes, businesses, hospitals, and everything else. This dips at night and generally reaches its peak in the evening.
It’s generally said that 1MW can power between 750 and 1000 homes.
Year-on-year
All data is available online for wind energy production is available in precise detail. The figures below are based on either wind energy generation, wind energy generation forecast, or system demand calculated every 15 minutes and available from EirGrid.
This concerns electricity contributed to the grid, rather than the total amount of power produced by the wind turbines.
The graph below shows, unadjusted, how much wind energy was pumped into the national grid. The result is a little chaotic, as wind energy can vary between 0MW to more than 1500MW on any given day.
The information is provided, as stated, in 15 minute intervals, leading to over 35000 individual units of data.
Click here to view a larger version.
It starts to make a little bit more sense with a smoothed graph.
When an average of the megawatts contributed to the grid is calculated per every half-month, it reveals a trend loosely matched each year-on-year, but average contribution to the grid dipping as low as 200MW.
It peaks at 750MW late last year, potentially due to the weather we were experiencing.
Click here to view a larger version.
Forecasting demand
EirGird’s data also lists a forecast of how much wind energy is expected to be produced.
Over the past five years (31 December 2008 to 31 December 2013), the amount of power contributed to the grid by wind turbines missed this forecast 58 per cent of the time.
The figure was surpassed 41 per cent of the time, and in the remaining 1 per cent the demand was either met or data was unavailable.
Click here to view a larger version.
New farms and rising capacity
Between 2011 and 2013, 49 new wind farms were built, according to the IWEA.
Minister Rabbitte recently announced these are made up of 1,386 wind turbines.
The total capacity of these wind farms, or the total amount of electricity these farms have the potential to contribute, has now reached 2011 MW.
Adding up to this 2011Mw figure over recent years were 18 wind farms built last year adding 289MW, eight wind farms adding 120.49MW in 2012, and 23 adding 199.15MW the year previous.
It is extremely unlikely that our wind farms would be able to produce 2011MW. Wind turbines generally operate much lower than their stated capacity. This is revealed in the graph below.
The increase is in capacity is most noticeable in the peak output, the single highest measurement recorded each year, but less so in the average output, calculated at 486MW in 2011, dipping to 467MW in 2012 before rising to 529MW in 2013 according to EirGrid quarter-hourly figures.
Click here to view a larger version.
Meeting demand
The graph below has taken each 15-minute interval in 2013, amounting to around 35,000 individual units, and calculated how much of the total demand for electricity on the national grid was being met by wind energy at that time.
For example, less than one per cent of demand was met during 250 of these units, while during 1600 of these units 3 per cent of demand was being produced.
Click here to view a larger version.
Aata above was either provided during Dáil debates or by the IWEA, but the vast majority can found on EirGrid.ie. An iPhone app is also available, and shows energy-related data in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
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How much is planned on being paid to the owners of the hotels that are putting up immigrants and giving them meals. Meanwhile 10,000 Irish people are homeless while we bring in people from the other side of the world for no good reason.
When Irish immigrated to USA and Australia and the likes they weren’t given a thing from any government, which is fair. You worked and contributed to society to survive. No such thing as being put up in a 4 or 5 star hotel in New York or Boston being paid for by US citizens tax money. Because that would be ridiculous. How is the very same thing happening in Dublin and Galway etc. as we speak?
@Theo Von: Immigrants to Ireland also work and contribute to society (provided that they are allowed to do so). They are no different.
@Brendan O’Brien: Do you think the cops would let you through the gate in JFK if you had no passport or documentation Bren?
@David Corrigan: That’s not relevant to my point. Some of us Irish tend to have a highly entitled attitude to migration: emigration is fine; it’s immigration we don’t like. We need to accept that emigration is immigration.
@Brendan O’Brien: My point is both scenarios are different. Comparing the Irish system to the Australian, Canadian or US systems is like chalk and cheese.
There are A LOT of Americans who don’t like Irish for example coming to their country and “taking their jobs”. I got that thrown in my face a few times over there. It’s the same here. You will get a small percentage of people here who don’t like immigration and there is no getting away from that.
You will find a very high percentage of people here though who will tell you it’s too easy for folk to move here without proper background checks or documentation etc.
In summary, people here don’t mind migration. They do worry though about the lack of checks. Massive difference.
@Theo Von: assisting those from fleeing from war is rather different to other immigrants, most of which are lucky to get a camp bed with no bed. Thankfully world is a different place than what it was 100+ years ago
@Roj Blake: no privacy
@David Corrigan: “Do you think the cops would let you through the gate in JFK if you had no passport or documentation Bren”. You’re correct, they wouldn’t. But that’s not a good thing in my book. The original poster is talking about international protection applicants, and by christ we treat them badly, but nowhere near as badly as they’re treated in the US or Australia. Economic migrants come here to work, and that’s what they do – work, pay taxes and live.
Giveaway budget haha don’t make me laugh
@john mac: Repayment Budget this should potentially read. Giveaway, if it actually will be, is definitely inappropriate given we are owed a fortune in terms of the huge financial support we generously gave to our banks without hesitation all those years ago. And with the continuous dipping into our pockets since, we are certainly due a significant change in government tax take.
@Fintan Stack: give with one hand take away with the other. Same bs different budget
@john mac: giveaway……. shur it’s only your own money you’d be getting back from all the various taxes.
@Jp Cleary:,I’m disabled and have no family,I’ve not been able to work in 3 years,I’ve worked since I was 11,I’ve a cheap car,my neighbour is a single mother with 1 child,she’s working,social &FIS,and her rent is a euro more than mine,she have the creche free,and then her mother takes over,She was telling me €680 a week.coz she’s getting more hours,but a family with both working are robbed,when we got the money last year,I was so great full especially for the oil,but I’d to pay almost 70 vat on it,when u said about they taking it back,your so right,the likes of me,all of my money goes back into the economy,from food,petrol,bins,esb,
person I no,is coming home from the US,I told him fly to Dublin and say u have nothing,coz he hasn’t,he will get looked after,seems to be the only way now
On the good news front…
RTE is offering 3 great prizes when paying your TV licence:
1st: Renault car (5 years old)
2nd: 10 x tickets to the RWC
3rd: Pair of flip flops (used once)
Get rid of the USC you’ve robbed us for long enough.and can we have a new government please.
@reg morrisey: a new Govt of Shinners and hard left nut jobs? No thanks as I prefer a Govt that encourages people to work
@Roj Blake: Encourages people to work? They can’t hire guards, doctors or nurses due to the poor conditions of the functions they manage. If they can’t encourage people to work for their own departments then that kind of blows your theory out of the water. Again.
@Roj Blake: encourages people to work?? You’re having a laugh
@Roj Blake: encourages people to work??? I work over 80 hours a week just to make ends meet because I’m taxed into nonexistence!! I’d seriously be better off on the dole!!!! The squeezed middle need serious support and tax realignment across the board! In Ireland the current model is the more you work & contribute the more you’re taxed! This cannot continue!
Giveaway to one hand, and take it back in other ways from the other hand
@Shaun Gallagher: Yup, the 3 cup and ball trick. Cant loose. Great reason to not do any work for them
One rents out a room or rooms, they are exempt from tax.
A landlord rents out a house, but takes in less than the ‘rent-a-room’ above – they still pay tax. Unfair.
I know the landlord’s house is an investment – guess what: When the house is sold the government will get a fair bite from the CGT. In essense, the landlord is penalised via tax for being a landlord during the rental period, but the rent-a-room owner is not.
Can we fix this?
@Keth Tgi:
Also: If said LL makes an end of tax year lumpsum payment instead of paying tax throughout the year, they are penalised/fined by 500 Euro also. In fairness, this was frozen during the pandemic for a year or two, but it’s back now.
Time to really go after the gougers, seriously hit their obscene profits with punitive taxes instead of assuring them that no matter what they charge the state will just pump cash to them via cost of living and energy subsidies.
@Mike Finnegan: I had to edit that as the sensitive folks at the Journal thought the word “profiteering” would be perceived as toxic….
You’ll get a few hundred over the course of a year while revenue will take a broadcasting charge and those with a mortgage will see nothing with higher rates coming in. Not to mention ever rising carbon taxes. So in part, the average person will still be worse off.
The last time they were talking about looking after the workers I got an extra fiver a week in my wages. About 3 weeks later they were taxing me an extra fiver. Did this happen to Anyone else???
@michael odwyer: no as taxes on work went down in last budget
@Roj Blake: Taxes on energy went up i.e. VAT. Give you a fiver and take back a tenner indirectly.
Why are they not going after the electric companies to bring down prices, surely it’s only fair to stop the rip off, if price of electricity came down there would be no need for pay outs, or maybe the government are getting a big slice of the profit so it’s cheaper to give out these payments
The people need to band together and remove these thugs from power.
@Dylan Bvrn: thankfully the IRA thugs aren’t in power here
@Roj Blake: Censorship is in full swing on the journal , sister site of RTE news , comments closed on Nationalist Party story ???
Ooh First… .Please Sir, Can I have some more?…..
Varadkar pledged to bring the inheritance tax threshold allowance for children back to pre-Celtic Celtic levels during this governments term he did nothing. Children caught in this situation have had to leave the family home on the death of parents being unable to pay inheritance tax. We will all be caught in this trap sooner or later. What a sick. .hole of a country.
Great to see supports for businesses who really need a helping hand during times of record profits. Sme’s ofc wont benefit just the big boys again.
The elites throwing bread crumbs to the sheeple via Clone (Our body double) Varadkar.
The original varadker was a man of the people so the elite took him out in 2011. look at any old pics and compare with today and honestly tell me its the same person
What about the “temporary u.s.c” promised to be abolished years ago…..
Does no one else see the absurdity of how the inflation system works……in all countries btw. The focus on a ‘cost of living’ package is the ultimate irony.
The the government is your only source of inflation. Not let me clarify, I’m not talking about prices going up and down (those are on the scarcity side), I’m talking money supply which is on the monetary side of the equation.
Inflation should always be broken down as price (scarcity) related or monetary, ie the number of units chasing those goods. The only way to have a general rise in the price of all goods and services is by first increasing the money supply. As we have seen since the 70′s.
Governments (and by extension what they allow bankers to do) are the ones who ultimately decide how much debt to build up, publically and privately. Obviously central banks policy determines the speed and extent of inflation, but for me, the gov sets the rules, and is the one doing the big spending.
So, they control the value of money,via their ability to spend more than they earn (tax), indefinitely, or contract (snowballs chance). Without constant expansion the system collapses anyway – imagine a world without new credit / lending, instant collapse, and how you gonna pay the interest on trillions of debt then.
So they got us into this mess, and we are stuck with it (inflation) until a whole new system / reset, currency collapse, go digital etc. Those fellas stashing the gold might not be so stupid, but any hard asset will survive better than fiat.
So when I see them helping the poor inflation ravaged citizens, by promoting another inflationary policy (cost of living, energy subsidies) I shake my head at the brazen irony.
They need to stop spending our money at these unsustainable levels. Every EUR above the tax take is inflationary down the line. There are no limits on government debt, so they can continue the expansionary suicide for a while longer…covid was huge, war is now huge, but the biggest expense (debt) of all is only just starting…..saving the climate.
Tax cuts are not much help to anyone whose income is below the tax bracket!!!
Lowering tax rates in an inflationary, overheating economy is economic insanity.
@Name not provided: That’s the sacrifice they will make to try and keep SF out of government.
FFG come first. The country comes 18th or 19th place on their list of priorities.
@David Corrigan: SF Govt will destroy investment and jobs
@Roj Blake: I don’t think so. Intel and other such organisations don’t care about FFG in power. They are not going to care about SF in power.
The multinationals are here for the cheap labour and tax breaks. They are not here for Leo and Michael.
funny how they say tax cuts were given since 2014… most people who worked 2014 didn’t earn 40k or more at the time so they can only now profit from these increases
Theres no such thing as giveaway with this lot, its give on one hand and take it back twice with the other
Don’t forget to give the dole merchants and other long term wasters on welfare a nice hefty increase so they can still live off taxpayers, and before any lefties start mouthing,I’m talking about the crowd that don’t want to work
Painful leader!
Forecast 2030….We will soon be like India, 80 thousand sitting on the Cork Dublin train including the roof. No charging points in the motorway, it’s a safety issue. All cars banned in towns and cities due to multiple battery fires. Taxes on electric cars double in the budget. Firemen refuse to fight forest fires because their fire engines are electric and its hard to recharge in a forest. Electric cars banned from ferries due to a safety issue. Gardai refuse to attend 999 calls due to the sluggish electric scooter problem, unable to catch up with geriatric offenders using walking frames. Rape and sexual assault removed from the statute book. Watching porn a prerequisite to getting a marriage licence. Parents pay the government child allowance. Ryanair wins 50 seats in the local elections. President Mick O’leary congratulates his namesake Mick Wallace for becoming Tanaiste for the second year running. Formula E struggles to finish in Westmoreland Street for the second year running, weather was too cloudy. A wolf stops the Cork Dublin train namely the Eamonn Ryan express or as the leesiders call it Von Ryan’s Express.
Toss the peasants some scraps is that it?this country has fast become a country where you need a good income and a fair bit of savings in the bank to stay afloat which there is a lot of people who seem to have or either have borrowed up to they’re eyeballs or people literally going week to week with it getting harder as time goes on despite the nonsense of hear that people’s wages are rising,mine hasn’t and almost everyone I’ve talked to hasn’t either
OH NO
Leo is turning into Michael Martin
Look at his hand movements in the photo…………..
WE ARE ALL DOOMED…………….
Ah come on .just cut there jobseekers .You have to stick to what you know Leo.
I earn just over 40,000 a year. Recently I got a job paying 1200 euro, the net pay I received was 576 euro. That’s a crazy tax system.
Here’s a “tax package” for any government, you can only steal 5% of what anyone earns in direct tax, and 1% maximum on any indirect tax.
Anything you spend above that is down to you.
Deal?
Security ERO still has not passed, only waiting since 2019 for a pay increase from €11.65. If the min wage goes up to 12.70 we might get something.
In that 5 years min wage would have gone up almost €3 from €9.80, but we’d only get €1.05
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