In a candid evaluation, the revelation last week that we’re poised to fall short of the national greenhouse gas reduction goal comes as no surprise. The Environmental Protection Agency presently anticipates a 29% decrease in emissions by 2030, rather than the mandatory 51% we initially aimed for.
This target was optimistically high, with Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan hinting at additional strategies that have a touch of wishful thinking. However, these tactics laid out in the updated national energy and climate plan (NECP) do have concrete elements. Primary amongst them is the proposed construction of 200 anaerobic digesters to generate biomethane from grass, slurry, and food waste. Other ambitious measures include a shift from road to rail freight transport, involving the establishment of new rail lines and rejuvenation of old ones. Ryan posits that the unaccounted balance will be filled with a combination of renewable energy upscaling, inclusive of offshore wind, and carbon capture and storage.
Yet, can we truly envisage 200 Irish communities willingly welcoming the establishment of industrial plants that convert agricultural waste into LPG in their vicinity?
To comprehend the scale of these proposals, one needs to look at the offshore wind aspect, which proposes producing 20 gigawatts of electricity by 2040, far exceeding the current demand.
Consider one specific proposal: a wind farm adjacent to the Sceirde Rocks on the Connemara’s southern coast. Backed by Australian investment bank Macquarie and financed by a Canadian teachers’ pension fund, this €1.5 billion project aims to install 30 turbines about 5km off the shoreline. These colossal structures, standing at 325m high, are projected to generate enough sustainable electricity to serve 350,000 households, making a significant contribution to the renewable energy goal.
This venture is one of four chosen by EirGrid in the previous year for connection to the national grid, thereby facilitating power selling. Thus, it proves to be a showpiece for the offshore wind sector, with Corio Generation planning to lodge a planning application this year.
The proposed wind farm in Clare is facing opposition from a Buddhist retreat centre among others, even as it receives support from certain sectors of the local populace who could potentially gain from a €70 million community fund. The project also involves the use of a newly constructed deep-water pier at Ros an Mhíl in Connemara under the supervision of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Identified as one of the several possible ports ideal for supporting offshore wind farms, Ros an Mhíl could potentially mitigate years of economic retrogression in its surrounding region.
However, a fortnight ago, the pier’s construction was abruptly paused due to a victory by environmental campaigners who contended that the extension of the planning permission accorded by the Galway County Council for the new pier was compromised.
The council, without disputing the case, is expected to find a suitable solution to this issue. At present, the new pier project is in limbo. The project which would have significantly aided Ireland in meeting its climate change objectives was crippled by skilful and funded environmental protestors.
Peter Sweetmen, from Wild Ireland Defence, the organisation that contested the project, dismissed the argument that the project was vital for wind energy development, stating “It’s not our problem.”
He further elaborated to The Irish Independent that renewable energy needs to adhere to the law and that it does not hold exceptional status from it. He suggested that the 75 per cent of the pier already built could be in danger of being disassembled. Even when the council manages to negotiate past this current deadlock, the wind farm promoters are yet to overcome their difficulties.
On a final note, it was not surprising when we missed the national goal for reducing greenhouse gases by a significant margin last week.
There’s a mounting issue among local inhabitants, and it’s presumed some non-locals owning holiday accommodations nearby, as they’ve drawn up a petition to underscore concerns about the potential effects on sites of historical and scientific interest, tourism and fisheries, all crucial for local economies. The petition is no doubt a prelude to challenging an imminent planning application. A key contention is the potential need to relocate a local weather station at Mace Head, due to potential interference from the turbines. This station, which supporters point out recorded Europe’s purest air last year, could be impacted by a €1.5 billion project.
However, the broader implications seem to be overlooked. The irony of prioritising a weather station, which records global warming impacts, over an initiative designed to reduce emissions, seems rather blinkered.
[The proposal for a wind farm in Clare is experiencing significant opposition]
Considering this tunnel vision approach extended to a series of additional measures introduced by Ryan last week, it leaves room for doubt. Is it genuinely plausible that 200 Irish communities will readily accept the establishment of industrial complexes turning cow dung into Liquid Petroleum Gas in their locales? Similarly, would the diverse communities affected by the infrastructure required for transitioning to rail freight and large-scale carbon capture, conveniently play the environmental card and use all means available to sway the location elsewhere? It appears so. Would they find allies within the environmental activist community? Most likely.