Wind turbines: the debate for and against
In 2020, wind turbines generated 36.3% of Ireland's electrical demand – only Denmark is higher at 55%.
Malachy McKenna, in his play, , introduces us to two elderly farmers, Eamon and Nashee. We meet them at a gate on a remote hillside. The men are old friends, old rivals, old neighbours. Nashee is thinking of going into a nursing home and is rebuked by Eamon. To justify his position, Nashee says about the idea: “There are pros and cons for, and pros and cons against.” As the play continues, the men find themselves arguing about the demise of turf cutting and the proliferation of wind turbines.
There was a time on the high Ox Mountains when the sight of a meitheal of men cutting a bank of turf was commonplace. The turf provided essential fuel for the winter and no small amount of enjoyment in its cutting, saving and drawing home. Nowadays, in the outer reaches of the mountain, the old turf banks are overgrown and the sounds of men working and children playing are distant echoes.
On the other hand, you will not walk far in such places today without catching sight of a wind turbine and where you see one, you will see a whole herd; grazing quietly, chewing up the wild wind that feeds in off the Atlantic. The loss of one energy source and the growth of the other presents us with a remarkable contrast.
Of all of the places on earth to position a wind turbine to generate electricity, there are few more suitable than the mountain tops of the West of Ireland. We have rain most days, sunshine not as often as we might like, but in such places, we have constant wind. We have a resource in the wind that is always available and it will never run out. In the same way that a passing smile costs nothing, the wind has the potential to bestow its gift and then, simply move on.
As of 2021, the Republic of Ireland has 4,309 MW of installed wind power capacity, the second highest per capita in the world. In 2020, wind turbines generated 36.3% of Ireland's electrical demand – only Denmark is higher at 55%. Ireland has over 300 wind farms, which are mostly on our mountains and hills. Our wind power generation is higher during winter and lower in the summer but the overall capacity factor of Irish wind farms is high compared to the global average of onshore wind farms which usually ranges around 20%. The overall cost for each fully installed 800kW turbine is around €2 million.
All in all, it would seem that the wind turbine is a very worthwhile weapon in the fight to meet our increasing demand for energy and our huge responsibility to curb our carbon footprint in the face of global warming. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) gives a good account of wind-generated energy and renewable energy technologies.
It is both Ireland's largest and cheapest renewable electricity resource. In 2020, wind provided over 86% of Ireland's renewable electricity and it is the second greatest source of electricity generation in Ireland after natural gas.
A power greater than either the wind or the turbine is the high priest of technology. It marries them both and it is the key, the catalyst, the potential underwriter of all our energy debts. George Duval, writing for (USA), builds the story further when asked how long it takes a wind turbine to pay for itself.
The typical life span of a wind turbine is 25 years, with routine maintenance required every six months. However, little is yet known about the scrapping or disposal of worn-out turbines. The worst-case scenario is that they are abandoned on-site and left to rot while they are replaced with the latest model. But that is the very worst possibility and the hope is, in such a green industry, that best practice will prevail.
Ørsted is a renewable energy company that, according to itself, is taking action to create a world that runs entirely on green energy. It owns and operates a 360MW portfolio of onshore wind farms in local communities across the island of Ireland. Its following statement seems very reassuring.
Every mountain wind farm is accompanied by tens of kilometres of roads. These roads are needed for turbine construction and maintenance. Very often additional excavations and construction work are required to carry the freshly generated electricity out to a grid connection. It’s all a far cry from bringing the turf from the bank to the road with an ass and a pair of creels. These roads are injurious to both the surface of the mountain and the flora and fauna that survive there; the delicate flowers and the sensitive nesting birds.
There is no doubt, the meitheal of men and the ass and creels are gone. While many cling to the idealism of cutting their own mountain turf, the reality is that few would take the trouble or have the time. If it was to be done, it would be done by machine and that process would not leave the landscape, or the flora and fauna, without injury either. Modern living, in houses without chimneys, is now the new standard. These houses are warmer, more energy efficient and dust-free and depend hugely on electricity.
In our race, and it is now a race, to clear our conscience of past environmental indiscretions, we have to make every effort to stem the spiral of global warming. We will likely never stall it, much less reverse it, but we can slow it down. The individual, the simplest household, the smallest country have the potential for change. If we find ourselves resenting the sight of wind turbines on our mountain tops, if we continue to think that old ways are best and that the issue of finding alternative and renewable energies is someone else’s problem, maybe we should think again.
The cost of the turbine’s footprint is substantial and the very creation of the turbines themselves is another environmental expense but the wind is plentiful and it is free and it is ours to use without fear of injury or exhaustion. The same wind that turns the blades of a turbine in Ballycroy will turn another at Bonniconlon and another at Ballaghaderreen before it passes over Ireland to drive more turbines in the Irish Sea and on the English Pennines.
While not without their faults, when it comes to electricity generation, wind turbines have more pros than cons.
