Some good news came of the tail of Hurricane Gonzalo hitting Ireland last weekend, as the high winds generated 50pc of the country’s energy demands through its wind turbine network.
The findings by EirGrid come from a measurement of the turbines’ energy output between 6pm Friday, 17 October, and midnight on Sunday, 19 October, which resulted in a new record peak of 1,784MW at 6.45pm that Friday.
The figures, highlighted by the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), also showed that in the proceeding Monday and Tuesday, Ireland’s wind turbine network was still generating 40pc of the country’s electricity.
This new record had the potential to power more than 1.15m homes across the country and is hoped to bring good news to the table when the Government heads to the European Union over the coming two days to discuss EU clean energy targets set under the Europe 2020 programme.
“This is a vital week for climate change as EU heads of state gather on Thursday and Friday to decide our climate targets towards 2030,” said IWEA’s chief executive Kenneth Matthews.
“This record shows yet again that Ireland has a huge resource of clean indigenous wind energy, and we are calling on An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to make sure that there is a clear and ambitious renewable energy target as part of the EU discussions, which would allow us to continue to harness this renewable natural resource and secure Ireland’s place as a global green energy champion.”
Wind turbines image via Shutterstock
