Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
House prices
1. House prices in Ireland have risen again in the last quarter, and the average price of a three-bed semi detached home has surpassed €300,000 for the first time since 2007.
House prices in large towns have risen by 2% in the past three months, and are increasing at twice the rate of Dublin and major cities.
Air Quality
2. Ireland’s air quality is below guidelines for health set by the World Health Organisation, a new Environmental Protection Agency report has found.
The report calls for local authorities to allocate more resources to increasing air quality enforcement and implementing solid fuel regulations.
Free IVF
3. The Minister for Health has emphasised that the publicly funded IVF scheme, which opens today, will be expanded to include more people, including couples who use donor materials.
“That’s a group who feel that they have been left out. They haven’t, this came because of very clear advice from the clinicians that we need to have the regulatory framework on the legislation in place,” Donnelly said.
Donegal hit and run
4. A man has been arrested over a crash in Co Donegal on Saturday in which a nine year old boy was killed.
The man, in his 20s, is being held at a garda station for questioning.
Advertisement
The boy has been named as Ronan Wilson from Kildress in Co Tyrone.
Lucy Letby
5. Prosecutors will decide today whether to seek a retrial for child serial killer nurse Lucy Letby on a number of outstanding allegations in the UK.
Letby (33) was sentenced to a whole life order after jurors convicted her of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.
Man dies in cattle mart incident
6. A man has died following an incident at a cattle mart in Loughrea, Co Galway on Saturday.
The man, aged in his 60s, was injured following an incident during the mart at around 4.25pm.
Writers Guild to end strike in Hollywood
7. Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement on Sunday to end the screenwriters’ strike after nearly five months.
Announcing the deal in an email the members, the union said: “WGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days.”
Niger coup
8. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country after its democratically elected president was deposed in a coup.
Leona Maguire
9. Spanish star Carlota Ciganda was the home heroine on Sunday as she birdied the 16th and 17th holes to beat Nelly Korda of the United States and secure the point that ensured Europe retained the Solheim Cup.
American Lexi Thompson beat Europe’s Emily Pedersen in the final match to end a thrilling competition 14-14, while Ireland’s Leona Maguire starred earlier in the day.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Give incentives for households to install panels and forget about the big farms for the minute. If small houses are creating excess take it back in to the grid. It makes sence. I’d be happier with a little help to install one of these on my roof and see a personal return rather than my tax money subsidizing a solar farm that the electricity still costs extra
Exactly Sean. I’ve a feeling it’s the likes of DOB and company that will get taxpayer subsidies to get the ball rolling. When it’s making money then they get to keep it.
John that’s not the whole picture. Seai may offer grants but the Esb hasn’t evolved enough to support micro generation. Nor does it seem to want to. Our state bodies prefer working with business. Subsidies keep industry afloat and the paperwork gets done.
Not good enough. Put the money into community energy!
We looked into solar energy to provide hot water in our new build extension (not completed yet). SEAI gave us some idea of the price and the grants available. Several did not come back to me with a quote despite the promises and the one who did gave me a price which was roughly what SEAI told me was average for the size of my extension PLUS the grant which I could claim back. The grant should have come off the price not added it on so I could reclaim it. Good old rip off Ireland is alive and well.
I think we need to do both. The government (in common with governments across the world) already subsidises dirty energy – they now need to transfer that big time to solar energy – with the will we could have stuff they have in other European countries – eg the tops of bus shelters in bus stations all solar panels, even pathways with solar panels, every large factory or supermarket should be forced by legislation to have their entire roof full of solar panels.
They need to up the funding available for home insulation (the low hanging fruit) and also solar panels, and people need to stop blocking stuff like Dun Laoghaire Rathdown being stopped in their plan to insist all new build would be built to a ‘passive energy’ standard (ie house has an environment where more or less no heating is needed). The result will be a future-proofed country energy-wise (not dependent on a volatile Middle East), cleaner air and a reduction in asthma (we have among the highest rates in the world) and a future for our children that will still be difficult but not completely catastrophic – as we will be playing our role to avert the very worst effects of climate change.
Think about it – with solar the input (the sun) is always free and infinite – unlike oil or gas.
People should know also that if you are a low income home owner you can get your home insulated for free under the Warmer Home scheme that the Greens brought in.
“Subsidies keep industry afloat….” The idea is good but with our small population import substitution on manufacturing things like solar panels or goods already made cheap in China is a non-runner.
The government would be better off subsidising growing Irish vegetables instead of pretending that solar energy is going to save us money.
A couple of weeks of sunshine and everybody thinks of solar panels, as if you could store sunshine. When it rains we think of rainwater harvesting and when it is windy we think about turbines.
There is no magic formula to store renewable energy other than to use some of this renewwable hydrostatic energy to pump water into reservoirs located in the hill and use gravity to power turbines when the water is released.back down again.
If we want reusable energy we need to start thinking about ancient Greek Archimedes.type scientific priciples of engineering and how kinetic energy was used before the invention of electricity. We obviously threw the baby out with the bath water when electricity was provided in this country.
We could indeed install solar panels and wind generatorsat our homes ,but then,like the attempted to do in Spain,our “government” would want to tax us for doing it , perhaps for environmental or conservation purposes??
They would say that, but it’s to keep big companies in business and the ordinary man paying for everything. We are seen as economic units, not human beings and we vote for the guys that protect big business not us.
Spain lost 2.2 real jobs for every ‘green’ one created, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and if you waste money on subsidies then this is the outcome.
Chris, the Green Party brought in the Warmer Homes scheme that exists to this day and has insulated the homes of thousands of low income home owners entirely for free.
You may not wish to pay carbon tax, but I am sorry to say that for the sake of our children’s future the polluter must pay.
The entire world is forging ahead with sustainable energy, and we should not get left behind. Your view is a bit out of date I am afraid. Last year, for the first time, renewables accounted for a majority of new electricity-generating capacity added around the world. The average global cost of generating electricity from solar panels fell 61 percent between 2009 and 2015. It is the way forward. If we wish to have a future for our grandchildren, renewable energy is the ONLY way forward.
Owen, you are again making up stuff about the Irish electricity system. The amount of back up plant depends on the largest plant or interconnector importing, not renewables. IMHO, industrial solar should get the same fixed price as onshore wind is getting, whilst domestic should get a 20% premium (as it can reduce the costs of network investment). Alan.
Renewables provided 63% of Portugal’s energy last year. There are great strides in technology to store solar energy. It’s a free and inexhaustible source of energy.
Chris, there is little need to store energy up to the point of 50% renewables. After that a bit of investment in pumped storage will see us right. Alan.
Let’s do both.
With the solar farms the cost of residential / commercial roof top solar in Ireland will be more expensive. As the solar farms bring economise of scale to the market. By doing all the options the consumer will pay less for solar electricity.
Hi Owen, Euan’s paper seems to have a fatal flaw…it seems to assume that the Irish system is based on gas and wind. As I am sure you know, we have lots of dirty Peat and dirty coal on our grid. Wind typically displaces gas, leaving the average CO2 intensity of the remaining fleet obviously higher (as a greater proportion is Peat and coal). If you want me to review anything else, please email me. Thanks, Alan.
In 2013, solar power was responsible for 0.58% of the total electricity produced. Portugal also increased its solar capacity by 25% when comparing to 2012.
A large photovoltaic power project, the Serpa solar power plant, was completed in Portugal, one of Europe’s sunniest areas.[12] The 11 megawatt plant covered 150 acres (0.61 km2) and employs 52,000 PV panels. The panels are raised 2 metres off the ground allowing grazing to continue. The plant provides enough energy for 8,000 homes and saves an estimated 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Not far from there, Moura Photovoltaic Power Station is under construction. With more than 376,000 solar modules, it will have an installed capacity of 62MWp when finished. The first stage of construction is scheduled for completion in 2008. A solar panel factory is also being built in the city of Moura, where there are plans to build a research lab.
Portugal has the second largest photovoltaic power station in the world, which was completed in December 2008. The complex, called Amareleja photovoltaic power station, covers an area of 250-hectare. The 46-megawatt solar power plant produces enough electricity for 30,000 homes and saves more than 89,383 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions. Also in production since January 2007, the Serpa solar power plant with an installed capacity 11MW, covers an area of 60-hectare, produces enough energy for 8,000 homes and saves more than 30,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions. These solar parks are approximately 30 km apart.
@Little Diddy – just stop. I build passive, low-energy and NZEB buildings for a living. You’re waffling. Solar subsidies have failed in UK and Germany, and here ESB cancelled the only feed in tariff there was. The key is better buildings that use less of it in the first place. And those SEAI houses you mention were not done for free: they were paid for by the taxpayer. There is no ‘free’ in energy.
No way should should private enterprise be funded as there would be no return in tax and for the likes of the Denis O Brein of this world to get a slice of the action.
Energy has always been, and currently is, subsidised by every country. We currently subsidise heavily in this country dirty energy production. If it needs to be subsidised to get it going, then it is a very smart move indeed for our country to do that. We will benefit by moving into the 21st century, having energy security as a country, clean air and by not having to pay millions in fines because we breached an agreement we voluntarily signed up to in order to join with Europe and the world in tackling the prospect of catastrophic climate change for our children’s children and future generations.
Does solar need subsidy ? Every other country in the world has subsidised it surely we would be better importing it and subsiding new technology like tidal harnessing.
We don’t get enough sunshine, we would need to deploy 1000s of acres of solar panels to capture enough energy to be viable with current technology. So our energy bills would have to be increased even more, just like it was to facilitate the appalling wind farms that blight the countryside now. Bio fuel would be cheaper.
Do we really have to replicate the renewables scam here? There is enormous profit if you move in the right circles, In the UK wealthy landowner Sir Reginald Sheffield gets round £600,000 a year from wind-farm subsidies, he just happens to be Cameron’s father-in-law. I wonder who will be the big players here?
I agree Owen, I’m just pointing out it would still be cheaper than solar. Nuclear is indeed the future, we just need to get over the hysteria surrounding it.
Not true. About 3,000 acres would supply us with 5% of our electricity needs. To put that is perspective, each year about 15,000 acres of agricultural land is permanently converted into forestry. Land availability is not an issue.
Every house in Ireland should hve solar panels to create power. The government should py for the installations nd in return the surplus energy could be directed back to the national grid to be use for industry and other services. It would cut our dependence on foreign imports and encourage companies to create jobs here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Brendan, just like we all paid treble the amount of car tax that other countries are paying to reduce carbon emissions and then, after we were held to ransom for owning a car that was over 1.ltr all the money we paid, €439 Million was taken out of Local Government Funds and handed in its entirety to Irish Water to squander on consultants. One good nuclear power station is what we need.
We do not need nuclear power and most of Europe is going in the opposite direction – full tilt for renewable energy. Nuclear power is viciously expensive to build and considering we have not done enough to avert some of the bad effects of climate change (there is that tricky 50-100 years’ time lag even if we stopped all emissions right now – which obviously we cannot do anyway)… considering then that we are guaranteed some pretty catastrophic and unknown climate change from what we have already emitted, could you really guarantee the safety of a nuclear power plant? If we continue not doing enough to keep global warming down, it will (as all the experts say and as seems obvious) lead to economic and social breakdown, breakdown of food production worldwide, massive migration of starving people, and conflict and wars for diminishing resources… in that situation, nuclear plants will be vulnerable to attack and they might not have anybody to look after them – an unthinkable prospect for the world. In addition, they rely on water and have to be near water, and with climate change likely drastically to affect water sources, another reason not to go nuclear. Solar energy on individual houses will be a good idea if things get really bad later in the century…
While Germany’s installed solar and wind energy may be able to get fairly close to fulfilling total electricity demand for a few minutes in rare instances that weather and demand conditions are just right, their share of total primary energy is still depressingly measly. Die Welt puts it all in true perspective:
Despite billions in subsidies, ‘renewable energies’ wind and sun covered only 3.7% of Germany’s primary energy needs last year.”
HT Pierre Gosselin.
Things are going to be tough in the next 5yrs so never mind the next century. A century from now we won’t have the same issues of a masked recurrence of centenary sad arse ness in post modernist mediocrity where we are of nostalgia and heritage and old art instead of making a new aesthetic and cultural shift. We are the beautiful past in digitally re-enhanced techni-colour cinematic spectacle and bizarre window to that period but we need the Progressive Democrates on Arts and one Fianna Fáil spokes person for the arts significance in a few major projects.. they don’t really seem to get that the vision of Ireland is something besides all those things like a new horizons of Windmills which look great in my opinion indeed but the arts seem non existent and on a large international platform of being more current and where we have technology and design for their own sake. A new vision of Ireland is a new visual representation of Ireland in something beyond drama in film which I love and I can appreciate the importance of. A new look for Europe so we can look down our nose of Europe at America. They are slightly sad ironic hippy era effort in their being consumed by Nuclear energy. Slow change transition for them now. Difficult to make up for being swamped by the amount of plants they have even with all their efforts in Wind and Solar Power. It is a very off the grid culture in some instances and it gets a bad image at times. Like people might associate some wind farm effort as cult hippy havens. We might have to high tail it out of here . 2020 is the realization or perfect vision as associated. The great fantastical reality realization, I ain’t saying lets take acid and get naked and pretend we have xray vision. We are ten years and 30yrs behind in some areas of interest to be exploited
1 thorium nuclear plant and we have enough energy for entire country for next 50 plus years with power at 30% per my of current costs. Renewable energy in Ireland is a loss leader from.day 1 as will never stand on its own feet and a tax parasite.
Thorium plants still produce U-232/U-233 which are highly dangerous, and the latter can be used to build nuclear weapons. I’d rather we hold off till clean fusion comes around, we don’t want to be stuck with a plant that has harmful byproducts in years to come.
Regular fission is a good option. As far as I’m aware thorium plants have not been invented yet. Fusion is decades away from commercial application. The waste from all European plants is buried in the Irish Sea already you fools in cellefield wales. The by products can be used in traveling wave reactors when they come around. Modern gen 3 reactors are ultra safe and quite expensive as a result. A combo of solar wind, an nuclear is the likely desirable scenario. ( I’m skeptical of the technology in using waves or tidal power, we’ll see). There is this hysterical fear of nuclear power. There have been three major accidents in history. Chernobyl was a gen1 Soviet glorified science experiment in which the accident was human error (modern plants are automated). The idiots decided to do an unauthorized test of the back up generators for the cooling system. So they brilliantly they switched iff the main generators and the back ups failed. What followed was not a nuclear explosion but a steam explosion ionized by radioactive particles. Fukushima I think was very early gen 2 but may be gen1 and it took an earthquake followed by a tsunami and a series of really unlikely events for the many safeties to fail.
Thorium reactors can destroy plutonium and don’t produce any which is why they fell out of favour with military-minded governments and the story of LFTR is very interesting from an engineers point of view. Thorium reactors can be tuned to control what they consume or produce.
Doesn’t really matter that they destroy Plutonium seeing as Thorium reactors also have by-products that can be used in nuclear weapons. Not sure why the military minded would be against that…??
Many medical devices are radioactive enough to make dirty bombs from so lets not get hysterical about the subject. Without spending ages explaining this for the benefit of lay- people the military use of thorium reactors is NOT effective as the more conventional use of uranium in it’s various form is already in the hands of rogue states and Thorium reactors would not be their choice of weapons
Thorium reactor technology is already 80% completed and the Chinese have a timeline for 2020 for the first reactor in place to resolve all their pollution generated power,, usual scaremongering thrown out by skeptics, but people should read first before opening the fingers on the keyboard . THERE is NO weapon grade material available from a Thorium reactor IF not wanted ,, so why would we generate IT IN iRELAND ,, ???? From agreement to planning design , to begin building is a 10 year issue so plan now for Tomorrow . 1 plant in Ireland solves all and with car technology going battery power and self storage systems like TESLA in homes we are on verge of complete self automation using electricity in all facets of life so WHY do we suffer the whims of Saudi despots or large burden (non)renewable energy TAX parasitic companies where we destroy our landscape with wind-farms / extra costs infrastructure / a joke of Solar Power proposed by more idiotic subsidy seeking companies ??? Time to grow up people ,, NUCLEAR is the True future for self dependency and freedom from despots !
@Jho Harris. Here is a thought for you. Solar panels can be placed on roofs. They don’t have to be taken huge amounts of country side. Imagine a situation where every roof had a solar panel and away of storing the electricity produced.
That’s the problem Thomas, there is no economical way of storing the energy. Until someone develops a revolutionary new way to store the energy it will always have to be subsidised by conventional energy sources. Better to fund this research instead.
Well John you’re wrong there the tesla powerwall is a very economical and efficient way of storing the energy. They are not that big and they look well. If you want to put them out of sight you could fit a few very nicely under a stairs or somewhere else out of the way. Oh and newer solar panels are very efficient they don’t even need direct sunlight which ideal for Irish weather.
I think the entire earth should ban wind turbines, solar panels and anything else that could produce renewable energy and just keeping burning every single drop of oil and coal and trees and anything else we can find to burn until there is nothing left to burn. This is obviously the most logical approach to take if we want to guarantee the survival of our species for more than 10-20 generations. Who needs wind turbines clogging up the landscape when we can just dig up the landscape and burn it instead?
Do you work for a dirty energy company? Why is every country investing heavily in renewable energy if it is so stupid and will never work? The fact is that it is working all over the world. It is not only the future, but the present, and we should not get left behind.
“in 2008 everybody was investing in property, we should invest more in property”
The Energy Return on Investment is so bad for wind and solar, they use alot of energy, mostly fossil fuel and release huge quantities of CO2 in a short period of time.
You guys are sad – CO2 emissions are not going up because some countries are investing in renewable energy – now that makes not sense at all! Why should Ireland lag behind when it is simply NOT an option to keep burning fossil fuels – ALL of the credible scientific community the world over tells us that this will destroy a liveable planet for future generations – STOP standing in the way of what is the moral imperative of our generation.
It’s not just large companies who will benefit, I have been installing PV for 4 years both in Ireland and dozens of installs in UK of several Mw in total. We have 12-15 reasonably large projects lined up and ready to go from 50Kw to 5Mw BUT the customers won’t go ahead until the long promised government announcement is made, as it will drastically effect their price to install and payback time. Dozens of small companies in Ireland are in limbo waiting for a decision.
Could meet those targets a lot quicker if electric vehicles were supported or encouraged properly, instead of the half-hearted attempt at installing non-functioning and unmarked chargers around the place and putting out stupid press releases about charging more than diesel for the electricity at them, followed by retractions.
Or how about some reliable public transport, or planning offices taking into account how people will get from a to b when they permit housing estates in the middle of nowhere.
I swear this place is run by complete amatures most of the time.
Too late.
The Danes and the Dutch have already captured the market.
Irish Luddite so-called environmentalists don’t like the look of windmills.
The Danes and the Dutch love windmills.
Windmills have almost defined the landscape of those countries for centuries.
P.S.
We have the ultimate solar energy.
Almost eternally blowing winds on the west coast..
(The wind is solar energy…the wind takes energy from the sun stupid)
Comparing dainty little windmills that could barely cope with a surplus of grain to the monstrous wind turbines used to generate electricity the odd time is very naughty. Anyway the Danes are in uproar as the power from their wind factories has to be given away free to prevent the grid melting.
Creat jobs, stabilise electricity bills, security of energy supply, no fines for missing 2020 targets…and when large scale batteries become affordable in 2-3 years then 24 hour seven supply…then the true transition to renewables will be underway. Bring it on
Subsidise homeowners too. And anyone that wants to generate solar electricity. Whether by reduce bills or cash once a year for it. This is a win all round situation really.
Millions have been given to wave energy research and we have yet to gain from it. There are people who live very well indeed doing energy research year after year under the guise of a company kept going by grants. I say NO to giving these people grants. Enough! Reduce the price of solar panels and their installation costs for the man in the street and let’s just get on with it. No more grants for the already fat cats.
Dirty energy production is currently massively subsidised all over the world – if we want renewable non-polluting energy that saves a liveable planet for our children (if it’s not already too late to do that) then we must invest in it – otherwise we are cutting off our nose to spike our own face.
Energy needs to be looked at, yes. And there is nothing wrong with subsidising the startup investment required, for business and individuals. As long as the funding is paid back out of profits. There are some fantastic solar ideas out there that have minimal impact on the surrounding areas. As for free energy? That’ll happen when people start to work for free. Would you?
The problem with subsidising anything in this country is that it is never thought out properly to a satisfactory conclusion…..Irish Water being the prime example.
Fantastic solar ideas require fantastic amounts of sunshine, something not available in this country. They also require fantastic amounts of money which is not sustainable in the short term.
If you want to save energy and keep fit then buy a biccycle….
Little Diddy….just stop reading the BS put out by the AGW/ACC industry. Climate Change is a fact and has been since the Earth formed. Out planet heats and cools cyclically and damn all you can do to change that. It’s all about fear-mongering, control and profit for some. One day, the planet will be a barren rock. Fact. We are sitting in range of a very large thermonuclear reactor, or Sun, and it has a finite, but long, life before it goes out with a bang.
Sunlight in Ireland is enough to heat water through solar panels and that’s it. If you think that you will be able to live with electricity powered panels, just keep dreaming!!
Worth a watch – only 28 minutes but very damning of the Timber Frame construction built in Ireland, especially during the celtic tiger era, one would say criminal! – here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LHGwwlC8rs
Wind farms and solar are the way forward. However anywhere you see wind farms alot of people object and protest.
Solar farms are coming and they will be rolled out, not a bad thing in my opinion. There is alot of roof space on major commercial properties that should be used too. People forget there are large fines coming if we don’t meet these EU targets, in excess off €650m per annum. The tax payer is going to pay one way or another so I believe that companies and households should be subsidized for generation of renewable energy, whether its roof top, farm or by any other means. After all it is an extremely expensive investment to generate 1MW of power from wind.
Owen, the energy return on investment is excellent for onshore wind and OK for solar. Did you receive my analysis of your data (on CCGT gas usage in the Irish market)? What is your “educated” opinion on this? Alan.
Owen, your paper on EROI seems more fiction than fact. Nuclear is the most expensive (not the cheapest), while applying this “buffering” factor to renewables is ridiculous. The use of renewables in Ireland shows that wind can be a significant source at no/low additional cost. I prefer the metric LCOE, which shows wind, gas and coal to be competitive (with Peat, Nuclear and Offshore wind as expensive). In Ireland (RoI) from 2011 to 2013, based on CER figures, the average revenue to generators was €98 per MWh, whilst wind generators only got €82 per MWh. Alan.
End all subsidies on renewables and instead spend the billions of taxpayers money saved on research and development and set Ireland up as the leading nation in renewable energy technology! Expand our University and College sector massively in this area, instead of subsidising old technology subsidise the development of new technology – lead the way and create renewable energy that doesn’t need a subsidy to survive! ! We are doing it all Arse ways! In 10yrs we could solve world global energy problems, hugely decrease carbon emissions and everyone wins! The Green Eco Facists are actually making the problem worse with the drive to subsidise ineffective Green technology! Look at the breakthrough in Trinity and a tiny budget in making a stable Graphene – imagine if we invested heavily in renewable technology? ? Germany and Denmark invest in research and Development and reap the rewards- we have a superior environment to both for renewable energy production! ! Time to use logic!!
David, Irish onshore wind does not need a subsidy, just a fixed price. From 2011 to 2013 wind received the lowest income per unit of power produced (saving the taxpayer),. This year and next, wind should receive a higher price (because coal and gas prices are very low). The good news is that electricity prices should be low for the next couple of years. Alan.
We have the technology, the never-ending wind, rain, rolling waves, a little bit of sun, and an internet that shows very simple and affordable methods of harvesting domestic power. We should be self sufficient and paying the very minimum, if not nothing, for such services, but the governments dont like anything that they can’t capitalise on.
Solar energy, and in particular solar electricity (PV) is indeed grossly under-used in Ireland. And this is by no means due to our weather. It is due to the total lack of incentives, or in fact lack of information. Subsidies are not necessarily the best method of support, as they tend to increase prices. A realistic feed-in tariff would be better in the long run. (It existed for a small amount of installations for a limited number of years – now expired.) Loads of electricity could be produced on existing roofs; it does not necessarily mean covering green fields with solar panels. But the individual home owner is in a poor negotiating position against the electricity companies. Therefore, what it needs is a courageous feed-in law, and / or an association of small solar electricity producers. In the absence of both, I can only recommend to disconnect from the grid and do your own thing (as I did).
Wind is slack enough in the summer.. calm and breezy days are a blessing for my vision in projects but aside from my own selfish desires and ignorance of global warming to some extent, when I find it aught not effect air traffic, I think it is only a logical balance to energy plan and efficiency. Sometimes I find Aritricity are trying to make up for a deficit of summer months. Are there not dynamos magnetic bobbing weights in those giant turbines? Either way Airtricity would be silly not to avail of solar in collaborative efforts to meet energy needs or requirements. I got annually an anomaly deposit conveniently to their necessity. I am for clean renewable energy. Non renewable seemed like a dangerous term way back in school teachings. Dinosaurs bass chakra churning hippy mad rain dancers brewing up storms in ancient pagan worship of the Tyrannosorearse dance. Blowing hot air down the phone as they love taking our moola.
Ireland is a dull grey windy country very far north. Surely solar power isn’t best suited for us. Let them build solar panels on the dry arid hillsides in southern Spain. We’ll import electricity from them in Summer. It’s windy almost all year around here. We can export our wind power.
Wind generation is taking a large stake of the pso levy imposed on every household & business in the country & are looking for an increase from householders from €60 per year to €80 per year to fatten developers , why not cut subsidies to these developers & distribute them to solar . We all know that in 2 years time the pso will be €160 per household . All that along with with paying so much per unit of electricity . Next Celtic tiger is seriously active at a cost to everyone , time to wake up ireland & stop blaming Esb , blame government policy ,regulator & developer . Allow the householder to Benefit from solar & not the developer !!
Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon fired at by Israeli troops while on patrol
27 mins ago
5.4k
Tourism figures
Business as usual: Hoteliers chief confident despite further drop in tourism figures
2 mins ago
5
0
ciaran mullooly
Irish MEP used AI to write open letter about Gaza which quoted Swedish House Mafia
12 hrs ago
45.9k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 197 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 137 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 177 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 139 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 101 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 102 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 47 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 43 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 161 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 73 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 96 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 102 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 45 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 60 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 29 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 112 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 115 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 63 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 107 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 90 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say