Wind energy will provide savings of up to €100 million for Irish power consumers in the next ten years, a new study has claimed. This is equivalent to an 11.5% reduction in wholesale power prices and is based on wind meeting 45% of Ireland’s power demand in 2020, up from 12% today.
These savings are made because wind energy pushes more expensive forms of power generation – like coal and gas – off the market. In fact already in 2011, says the document, the Irish will save €36.6 million thanks to wind energy.
While these impressive figures speak for themselves, not to be missed by those who still claim that wind energy is over-subsidised is the study’s finding that consumers “ pay less through the support mechanisms than the savings they make from lower wholesale power prices ”. In other words, even though customers do pay something to support renewables, they still save money overall thanks to wind energy.
The report, ‘The impact of wind on pricing within the Single Electricity Market’, was commissioned by IWEA (Irish Wind Energy Association) in conjunction with Wind Skillnet, was compiled by international strategic and analytical consultancy Redpoint Energy Limited. The ‘Single Electricity Market’ in the title refers to the all-island Irish market.
By Sarah Azau ( ewea )
[mappress]
Source: ewea , March 03, 2011