Letters

Wind farms and energy needs

Thu Apr 21 2022 - 00:05

Sir, – Warren Kenny (Letters, April 20th) highlights the need for thousands of new steel fabrication jobs to progress wind farm projects on any realistic level. I hope the State training and employment agency Solas will take note of this and match the need for such training in its apprenticeship and training programmes. – Yours, etc,

TADHG McCARTHY,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.

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Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is among the sizeable number of serious commentators who are calling for urgency in installing wind farms and moving on to producing hydrogen ("Europe doesn't need our soldiers – it needs our energy", Opinion & Analysis, April 19th). There is no doubt that we have bountiful capacities in this area. We could be the modern equivalent of the Klondike gold rush or the Texas oil boom. But little or nothing happens.

If the Government could use the focus and will that was employed with the pandemic, we could transform our economy and reduce Europe’s use of fossil fuels.

Please, please get going. – Yours, etc,

FERGUS DALY,

Cobh,

Co Cork.

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole says that 80GW of Irish offshore wind farms could produce the energy equivalent of 170 million barrels of oil each year and, in doing so, Ireland “ . . . can genuinely enhance the safety and security of Europe by becoming a significant exporter to the continent of clean and renewable energy”.

Unfortunately for this optimistic vision, Russia produced more than 20 times this amount of oil in 2021 and, on top of this, produced huge quantities of gas and coal. Any amount of offshore wind – from the 5GW promised by 2030 to the 30GW of floating offshore wind potential spoken of for the Atlantic or even the increasingly frequently quoted 80GW – would be welcome and would do much to reduce Ireland’s carbon emissions. But let’s not get carried away by hyperbolic fantasies. For perspective, 5GW of Irish Sea offshore wind would produce the energy equivalent of two million tonnes of oil.

We have a lot to do as it is without creating impossible goals for ourselves. – Yours, etc,

EAMONN O’REILLY,

Glenageary,

Co Dublin.