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A WOMAN IN her 50s was seriously injured last night, after she was struck by a car in Galway.
Gardaí are investigating the incident which happened at approximately 8.45pm on a local road at Carrowmanagh, Oughterard.
The woman was removed from the scene by ambulance and is currently in a critical condition at University Hospital Galway.
The driver of the car, a woman in her late 40s, was uninjured.
The road was closed for Garda Forensic Collision Investigators to conduct an examination but has since fully reopened to traffic.
Investigating Gardaí are appealing for witnesses.
In particular, they are keen to speak to anyone who travelled between Oughterard and Carrowmanagh between approximately 8pm and 9pm.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Salthill Garda Station 091-514 720 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
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Let’s all go out to offaly and dig a bit of grass get our pictures taken and drive back to Dublin in our motorcade while the people in this country are on their knees Absolute Joke of a Government
@James Johnson: Most people are not on their knees. Those that are get the best social welfare supports around. This rhetoric you spout might be popular but the facts don’t bare it out.
@Mark B: We have the most ill-equipped gov’t in the history of the state, that is the sad reality of Ireland, I wish I was wrong, I would love it if FFG were a capable caring gov’t but they unfortunately reek of ineptitude .
@Frank Cauldhame: Sad reality or just your opinion? The facts suggest this government has done pretty well.
@James Johnson: OK, but I’m just not sure what you describe qualifies as “on your knees”.
For the record I don’t know any government ministers and only wish I had a car as new as a 162.
@Mark B: really so 48% of households will be in energy poverty this year and u say people are not on there knees. Where have u been hiding? Families will have to choose between heating or food,but u say they are not on its knees. U say stop with the rhetoric, but it’s factual so it not rhetoric its the truth. U might be in a good position not to have to get a welfare payment which will not cover the costs of everything. Its redicluless that the government is going to give even more money to the energy industry through welfare payment to be paid for by the tax payer. So we inessence pay of it twice. People are the power not the people in power
@Mark B: fair enough, the bigger issue is gov have over 6bn for budget, where did that come from? Only our taxes and levy such as usc, vat on fuel etc.it is the workers that are pushed to limit on tax I must pay an extra 50e a wk on dsl to get that I need to earn 80e that’s 4k extra a year just on getting to work.. not to mention the cost of elec and gas and the vat after charges added on. Mad no one can do that
@James Johnson: Well most I believe of the 6bn was from bumper corporation tax receipts, but also the fact that there have never been as many people employed and paying tax in this country as there are now.
I agree there’s an unprecedented confluence of high fuel costs, high energy costs, higher food costs and higher mortgage rates. Many will struggle and as you point out even a good pay rise (which most won’t get) doesn’t compensate with current marginal rates of tax.
I hope they distribute the 6bn wisely.
Now have the guts to build biggest off shore wind farms in world and start exporting spare energy and I’ll take notice
@Darren Callaghan: Unfortunately no Irish company is in the running to build any offshore wind farms.
British, German and Swedish companies have the expertise and the licences.
These companies will build our wind farms when they are ready and at a price that we can do nothing about.
@Darren Callaghan: In the EU27+UK in 2021 Weather dependent energy delivered
On Shore Wind 22% installed capacity
Off Shore Wind 34% installed Capacity
Solar PV 11.2%
Combined they delivered 18% of installed capacity
Installed capacity 383,650Mw delivered 69,440Mw
We have 4,496Mw installed On shore wind delivering 1,207Mw at present.
Given we only have a 500Mw connector to U.K. what exactly will we be exporting and to whom?
A nuclear power plant. That is all they should be focusing on along with wind/tidal as supplements for the grid
@dreiglaser: would take about 5-10 years to build if we take planning etc into consideration. No doubt it will be heavily objected to by many on the island too which would either slow it massively or stop it in its tracks.
@dreiglaser: A nuclear power plant needs either massive battery support or gas generators because they can’t be ramped up and down quickly to follow demand.
Every available solution needs energy storage or fast ramping (gas) generators to make it work.
@Paolo Fandango: 5-10 years is nothing for something that gives clean energy for decades. Everything in this country gets heavily objected to. If we built nothing because of the threat of objections we’d still be in thatch cottages.
Not a worlds first, not even an Irish first. Work already started in Moneypoint last year on the synchronous generator. Just a photo opportunity for the politicians. Another diversion from the unnecessary energy price increases on the Irish public.
@Michael Clair: It doesn’t say what battery technology is being used. Long duration makes me think some kind of flow battery which would be good to see, but even they wouldn’t count as world first – perhaps the combination. This kind of technology goes from newsworthy first to commodity amazingly quickly.
No it does not demonstrate the move away from fossil fuels is needed , it demonstrates poor decision making by putting sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
@Derek Gannon: in fairness, both of these things can be true at the same time.
We need to move away from fossil fuels as burning them is destroying the life sustaining systems on this planet. Extinction is now. Deny that all you want, you soon won’t be able to. The future you believe exists is a fiction.
@Shukran Don Dada: smh
@Shukran Don Dada: two words that rhyme with your name Yadda Yadda :)
It’s not enough, say Sinn Fein!
@John Mulligan: Well it was FFFG that gave away our oil & gas!
@John Mulligan: They would be right, we’ll need a lot more energy storage before we can stop burning fossil fuels, but we can’t build it all at once.
@John Mulligan: is that a compliment to them, or a criticism?
@Colette Kearns: what oil???
@Colette Kearns: Shell then sold the Corrib gas to the Canadian Pension Fund. You couldn’t make it up.
This article for general readers contains inadequately-explained technical jargon:
“the batteries can deliver rapid frequency response, while synchronous condensers provide low carbon inertia”
• What does rapid frequency response mean?
• What are synchronous condensers?
• What is carbon inertia?
The reader is poorly served by such avoidable opacity.
@Tacita O’Copa: I suspect the issue is that it wasn’t explained in the press release and the author of this piece doesn’t really know either. I can help answer your questions.
The electricity grid always needs to be in perfect balance. The amount of electricity generated and consumed needs to be the same every second of the day. The grid operator has a number of tools to keep the grid in balance. Batteries and synchronous condensers are two newer tools available.
If the grid falls out of balance, the frequency of the alternating current (AC) will change away from the standard 50Hz. If the frequency changes too much / too quickly then circuit breakers can trip and there will be power outages, otherwise some electrical equipment could be damaged.
The batteries can provide “rapid frequency response” meaning they can put power into or take power out of the grid to help balance the situation and bring the frequency back to 50Hz. The “rapid” element is that it can do this within 150 milliseconds (0.15 seconds) of detecting an issue. Whereas spinning up a new power plant to increase electricity generation might take a few minutes. These batteries are particularly important as we add more wind/solar to the grid as fluctuations in power output from wind farms and solar plants can vary a little from minute to minute so the batteries help keep things in balance.
The synchronous condensers are about providing inertia. The more inertia in the grid the slower the frequency changes on the grid happen when it is out of balance. Without high inertia the grid loses balance faster, the frequency drops and there would be power outages. EirGrid want to keep the inertia high in particular to guard against situations where a large power plant might trip offline unexpectedly, which would otherwise cause a large change in frequency that would cause power outages.
The synchronous condensers are massive spinning hunks of metal that spin a few thousand of times per second. They use electricity to get them spinning. If there is a power plant outage they automatically start spinning slower and release the stored spinning energy (i.e. the inertia) back into the grid. This happens instantaneously and can only work for a few seconds, enough time for the batteries or other mechanisms to take over.
Currently we get all grid inertia not from synchronous condensers but from fossil fuel power plants. The heavy spinning turbines in those power plants also provide inertia. There are times when the wind is blowing a gale and we continue to burn fossil fuels just to keep the turbines in fossil fuel power plants spinning so we can have enough inertia to protect against power outages. This is expensive and wasteful.
The synchronous condensers don’t need fossil fuels so they are a low carbon source of inertia.
If we add more batteries and more synchronous condensers we can add more renewables to the grid and turn off fossil fuel plants more often. The less we burn fossil fuels the better for the climate and for our energy prices.
(I have simplified some concepts and ignore things like reactive power, power factor to simplify the explanation, hopefully without losing the meaning as to what problems these new tools solve)
“TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said a new Co Offaly facility which will assist the stability and reliability of the electricity grid has come at a “critical time”.”
But it hasn’t come. They’ve just announced the beginning of construction. This facility will only come online in late 2024 and that’s assuming no major delays.
We need a real alternative in opposition. Martin has emptied the countries coffers, brought insane amounts of debt on the country, expects us all to take a large pay cut (one way or another when you factor in inflation and extra taxation), declares that we are not a neutral country and our only alternative to this nonsense is SF/The Greens again/extreme leftists? ‘It’ll be grand’ just won’t cut it when the s*** hits the fan for all of us.
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