Rise in PSO Levy Angers Irish Industry

It appears that reality is beginning to bite at The Irish Times in view of the many large industries (some of the biggest employers in the country) complaining about the rise in PSO Levy to fund more wind farms. 

Full Article Here.

In a submission to the CER before it arrived at its final decision, tech giant Microsoft, which employs 1,200 people in the Republic, said this penalises large energy users who are holding energy capacity in reserve to meet anticipated growth.

The multinational also points out that the rate at which the PSO has increased over the last five years represents a “rate shock” for large energy users and “puts the Ireland energy market at a disadvantage”. In a similar vein, Irish food and ingredients giant, Kerry, which employs 4,000 people here, warns that the charge will damage its competitiveness.

Irish Energy Blog has been warning about this for years now, but the warnings have fallen on deaf ears. The Irish Times have been calling for more renewable energy for a long time now and have allowed the wind industry to spread their propaganda far and wide. To be fair, they were not the only ones. 

The only journalist that is going to come out well of this is Colm McCarthy. Of course, there will be no accountability for what will happen in the next few years. An exodus of large companies coupled with a hit from any prolonged Brexit negotiations will see us well back in recession and rising unemployment once again. At a time of record low oil and gas prices.

Will we ever learn....

Little Evidence That Wind Reduces CO2 Emissions

Minister admits Ireland won't meet it's 2020 Emission Targets

Minister for Environment Alan Kelly has said it is no secret that Ireland is not going to meet the EU greenhouse emissions targets for 2020. He said that there was understanding in the EU that Ireland had come through a tough recession and that should be recognised in the targets set for each State after the overall target has been ratified. He said capital investment to adapt and mitigate was now beginning at a level that was required. He said this could not happen when times were tough. - Minister For Environment, October 2015.

A significant component of the Government's strategy for reducing emissions is to pepper the countryside with wind farms. The assumption that they contribute to lower emissions is backed up by little, if any, evidence.

The below graph shows little or no correlation between installed wind and solar and CO2 Reduction :

What did cause a reduction in emissions was the economic recession in 2008. In the below graph, it is self evident, that the resultant reduction in energy consumption (a direct consequence of the economic recession), brought about a reduction in emissions. The PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) had their combined energy consumption reduced by 15% between 2007 and 2014 causing a 30% drop in emissions :

So the Minister is wrong on both counts - 1) installing more wind farms will not reduce emissions and 2) the economic recession, rather than acting as a barrier to emissions reduction, actually brought about the most significant reduction in emissions for many a year.


Sources:

Euan Mearns and Roger Andrews - Energy Matters Website