Ireland

Wind Energy in Ireland

The wind on almost the entire island blows as evenly and strongly as it does, at best, on the costs of Central Europe. 3,500 full capacity hours are not a rarity, even for inland Irish wind farms. Nonetheless, only 1,428 megawatts were connected to the grid at the end of 2010. Not considered in this figure are wind power plants located in Northern Ireland, a province of the United Kingdom.

Climate Protection Goals
Until 2020 wind power in the Republic of Ireland is intended to continue growing significantly − to an installed capacity of 6,000 to 7,000 megawatts. Rapid growth is also necessary as wind energy must make a crucial contribution to the achievement of the climate protection targets defined by the European Union. According to the EU guideline, the share of renewable energies must reach 16 percent of Ireland’s total energy consumption by 2020. This, in turn, can only be achieved if the share of renewables in electricity production increases to at least 40 percent.

Independence from Fossil Fuels
Currently, wind energy covers around ten percent of the electricity consumed. An expansion is also of economic importance for the Republic of Ireland. Up to now, the imported fossil fuels cover about 95 percent of the total energy requirement. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has formulated two scenarios for the 27 EU Member States for the year 2020. In the low forecast, Irish wind power grows to an installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts during the next decade. In the more optimistic version even 7,000 megawatts are reached in 2020. In both scenarios the expansion offshore is not as important as it is in the neighbouring United Kingdom, for instance.

Limited Grid Capacities
While it is expected that the majority of wind energy in England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland will be produced offshore in the future, this potential is regarded as being comparatively small in Ireland. The limited grid capacities hamper a faster expansion of wind energy. With 60 inhabitants per square kilometre, the island is thinly populated – in Germany, for example, almost four times as many people (230 inhabitants per square kilometre) are bustling about in the same space and even more in the United Kingdom. Thus, the infrastructure is rather poor in some areas. As a result, the connection of a new wind farm to the Irish grid takes years in some regions.

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ABO Wind Ireland Limited

Successful within the Crisis

Under critical conditions, ABO succeeded in financing and finalizing the wind farms Glenough and Gortahile. Gortahile wind farm (20 megawatts), which was acquired by BNP Paribas Investment Partners, has been in operation since August 2010.

ABO Wind's largest project
In autumn 2011, the largest wind farm (32.5 megawatts) ever constructed by ABO Wind was connected to the grid. For the grid-connection of the wind farm Glenough, ABO Wind erected a 220 kilovolt substation. Glenough is part of the portfolio of ABO Invest, of which ABO Wind itself is a permanent shareholder. The majority of the shares belong to about 1,000 citizens.
A building permit for the project acquired in 2011, Gibbet Hill, already exists and grid connection has been granted.

Active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
The manageress Ute Schulmeister has built up a team of eight employees, which is working on several promising projects in different stages of development. The team currently works on half a dozen projects in early stages of development in Northern Ireland which politically belongs to Great Britain. The first wind parks will not reach construction readiness before 2013.