Wind provided 30% of Ireland's electricity in June, an increase of six points year-on-year but lower than the 36% average for the year to date, according to Wind Energy Ireland's latest wind energy report.
The average price of wind energy to the electricity grid came in at half (€91) the average megawatt price paid on the wholesale electrictty market. On days with little to no wind, however, the wind megawatt price rose to over €230.
"The first half of the year has been exceptionally strong for Irish wind farms," said Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland.
“New wind farms, along with solar and battery projects, will be connecting before the end of 2022 but we really need to accelerate the delivery of onshore renewables if we are to have any hope of staying within the expected carbon budget for the electricity sector.”
Wind Energy Ireland said that delays in the planning system continue to slow the rate of connecting for new wind farms, with average decision times swelling to over a year, far in excess of the An Bord Pleanála-mandated timeframe for application decisions of 18 weeks.
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"Our planning system must be reformed and properly resourced to ensure that the renewable energy projects needed to cut our carbon emissions and drive down electricity bills can get built as quickly as possible," Cunniffe added.
“The government must instruct An Bord Pleanála to prioritise planning applications for renewable energy and related electricity grid infrastructure so that they can be properly assessed, decisions made and we can get them connected.”
The report is based on EirGrid's SCADA data, compiled by MullanGrid, and on market data provided by ElectroRoute.
Meanwhile, SSE Renewables has been successful in its bid for the UK's four Contract for Difference Allocation Rounding, securing a low-carbon power contract for 220MW for its Viking Energy Wind Fam project, currently being constructed in Shetland.
The 443MW Viking project has secured a CfD for 220MW, or 50% of its total capacity, at a strike price of £46.39/MWh for the 2026/27 delivery year.
The project will receive its guaranteed strike price, set on 2012 prices but annually indexed for CPI inflation, for the contracted low carbon electricity it will generate for a 15-year period.
Viking is progressing with construction with over 50% of turbine foundation bases poured, according to SSE.
When complete in 2024, Viking Energy Wind Farm will be the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm in terms of annual electricity output.
Stephen Wheeler, managing director of SSE Renewables, commented: “Through the delivery of onshore wind energy projects such as Viking, SSE Renewables is helping drive the delivery of SSE’s Net Zero Acceleration Programme which will see the company double our current 4GW installed renewable energy capacity to 8GW by 2026 and increase our annual renewable energy output fivefold to 50TWh by 2031.”
(Pic: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
