{"id":259191,"date":"2023-05-26T14:57:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=259191"},"modified":"2023-05-26T14:57:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T12:57:09","slug":"ireland-squanders-e1-3-billion-on-wind-power-gets-worlds-most-expensive-power-in-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=259191","title":{"rendered":"Ireland Squanders \u20ac1.3 Billion on Wind Power & Gets World\u2019s Most Expensive Power In\u00a0Return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From STOP THESE THINGS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
File photo dated 23\/9\/2010 of the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Ramsgate in Kent. More support is needed to boost a ‘home-grown’ offshore wind industry in the UK, to reduce the high costs of the green energy source, a report said today. PRESS ASOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday September 27 2010. Offshore wind costs have risen sharply over the past few years, despite expectations when the technology was first deployed a decade ago that the cost of building wind farms and generating electricity would fall substantially over time. See PA story ENVIRONMENT Wind. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller\/PA Wire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Death and taxes are certainties, so is the fact that power prices soon rocket out-of-control, once your power needs depend on the weather. Ireland is no exception. More than \u20ac1.3 billion in subsidies has been thrown at wind power outfits in less than a decade, and with little to shown in return \u2013 unless, of course, the object was driving the cost of power into orbit. In which case the Irish have succeeded, with the latest bids for offshore wind power contracts hitting prices close to \u20ac150 per megawatt hour, three times the rates prevailing in neighbouring Scotland, and streets ahead of those elsewhere in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirin De Barra has the story below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ryan\u2019s Much-Heralded Wind Energy Would be World\u2019s Most Expensive at First Auction<\/strong>
Gript
Mirin De Barra
8 May 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, to great razzmatazz, Minister Eamon Ryan announced that opportunities to generate energy from Ireland\u2019s wind was going to go to auction in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going to auction means that a route to market would be established for an energy provider \u2013 typically in relation to renewable energy which is produced or largely subsidised by the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potential bidders will compete against each other to provide renewable energy, with the government looking at the cost per megawatt hour proposed, and an emphasis on community involvement and benefit funds for communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energypedia explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project developers can then submit a bid to the auction, outlining their project proposal and stating the price per unit of electricity at which they will be able to realize their project. The government then evaluates the different offers, which are ranked and selected in order of increasing cost or price until a volume, or the budget limit is reached. Lastly, the best candidates are selected and the government signs a power purchasing agreement with the successful bidders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2022, the Minister couldn\u2019t have sounded more excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was \u201ca massive step forward\u201d, he claimed, not just for wind energy but for \u201cIrish climate leadership\u201d \u2013 with his Department adding<\/a> that it was a \u201cseminal moment for the delivery of offshore wind in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe publication of these ORESS 1 Terms and Conditions is another massive step forward \u2013 for offshore wind, for Irish climate leadership and towards Ireland\u2019s future as an international green energy hub,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first stage of this transformative auction will start before Christmas and it sets us on a path to powering many more of our homes and businesses from our own green energy resources over the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exciting stuff \u2013 and, coming at a time when Irish people were reeling from the cost of electricity, it sounded like good news indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish government has been investing in wind energy since 1992. Subsidies and other state transfers in regard to renewable energy in the 2011 to 2020 period alone amounted to more than \u20ac1.3 billion according<\/a> to the CSO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWind is Ireland\u2019s oil,\u201d said Miche\u00e1l Martin told Davos last year. \u201cCertainly, by the mid-2030s we want to be exporting energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland\u2019s Renewable Energy Support scheme (RESS) says its aim is to \u201crely on competitive forces to achieve renewable energy ambitions at the lowest feasible cost to electricity customers while delivering technology diversity and significant community participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But alas, the outcomes seem a little underwhelming, as reported<\/a> this week in the Sunday Business Post by Lorcan Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland is set to unveil the world\u2019s most expensive offshore wind prices this week when the government announces the results of its first ever offshore wind energy auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price tag is expected to be close to \u20ac150 per megawatt hour, which is three times more expensive than the latest sale in Scotland and far higher than other European countries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this bears out, the energy generated by the first wave of offshore wind farms in Ireland will be anything but cheap for consumers and will be on par with the unprecedented price of electricity last winter, which was made so expensive by record high gas prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper says that the latest offshore wind auction in Scotland \u201cdelivered projects at below \u20ac50\/MWh \u2013 less than a third of the price Ireland could end up paying\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also notes that \u201cnone of the six offshore wind projects that have submitted bids to the first O-RESS auction have planning permission for their respective wind farms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind turbine manufacturers in Europe have faced<\/a> increasing problems with input costs and supply chain issues, and those difficulties have fed into increased costs for wind energy providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industry observers also say that inflation means that \u201ccosts are rising at a higher rate than prospective revenues\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reliability of wind energy is also an ongoing problem for energy provision, as is the as yet unsolved million-dollar question of how to store the energy once the wind stops blowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be an ill-wind that blows no good, but if this is an insight into the cost of renewable energy for the long-suffering Irish consumer then Ryan\u2019s justification in rushing to close down peat stations because we could rely on renewables seems more like hot air than anything else.
Gript<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Death and taxes are certainties, so is the fact that power prices soon rocket out-of-control, once your power needs depend on the weather. Ireland is no exception. More than \u20ac1.3 billion in subsidies has been thrown at wind power outfits in less than a decade, and with little to shown in return <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":259194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819752,691818340,691818299,691819751],"class_list":{"0":"post-259191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-irish-climate-leadership","9":"tag-offshore-wind-farms","10":"tag-subsidies","11":"tag-taxes","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00-Ireland.jpeg?fit=1200%2C753&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-15qv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":341357,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341357","url_meta":{"origin":259191,"position":0},"title":"Offshore trojan horses","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/09\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In July, the U.S. Department of Interior greenlighted large offshore wind farms in New Jersey and Maryland. Once the financial agreements are in place, New Jersey\u2019s Atlantic Shores and Maryland\u2019s MarWin and Momentum will join the two large wind farms in New York approved in June. 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This has left Mad Miliband\u2019s 2030 Clean Power policy in tatters.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-2023-11-13T120832.243.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-2023-11-13T120832.243.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-2023-11-13T120832.243.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/OIG-2023-11-13T120832.243.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":379113,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=379113","url_meta":{"origin":259191,"position":5},"title":"Denmark Goes Full\u00a0Miliband","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Just as in Britain. nobody can afford to build offshore wind farms in Denmark unless they are guaranteed obscene subsidies.","rel":"","context":"In \"Denmark\"","block_context":{"text":"Denmark","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=denmark"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0ChatGPT-Image-21.-Mai-2025-08_52_46.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0ChatGPT-Image-21.-Mai-2025-08_52_46.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0ChatGPT-Image-21.-Mai-2025-08_52_46.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0ChatGPT-Image-21.-Mai-2025-08_52_46.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=259191"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259201,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259191\/revisions\/259201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/259194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=259191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=259191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=259191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}