Ireland’s energy security: How do we move forward?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk. The Irish Academy of Engineering has published two reports yesterday calling for significant changes to our energy security planning, which fly in the face of our legally binding commitment to eliminate carbon emissions. And to talk about all of this, I'm joined now by a member of the Academy, the chair of the Energy and Climate Action Committee, Eamon O'Reilly. Eamon, good morning and welcome. Thank you, Pat. Good morning to you.
What significant changes to energy security planning are proposed in the reports?
Now, can you set the scene for us in terms of the likely energy shortages over the coming years because of what's happening with the war on Iran?
I suppose it is impossible to predict what's going to happen. I think that's the essence actually behind our reports. There is enormous uncertainty in the future. There has been enormous uncertainty in the past. And it is a bit like house insurance. If you can get along hopefully through your life without insuring your house, all of a sudden there's a fire and you regret not having house insurance. Energy security is like that. So for a country like Ireland with such a huge dependence on fossil fuels, 83% of our energy, it's imported, it's gas and it's oil. And we have zero energy security stores that we can access when we need to in the worst circumstances for gas. We have a lot for oil, for heating and for transport, but we've also almost nothing for electricity.
Now, often it'll be pointed out by Airgrid and others that sometimes more than 50% of our electricity on a given day, where there's a bit of wind and the sun is shining, 50% of it comes from renewables. Now, that's fine. And with battery storage, that might kind of see us through, but we're by no means there yet.
We certainly aren't. And as you mentioned, air grid, air grid have a standard that they have to adhere to. Three hours loss of load expectation. What that translates into is 99.97% certainty that air grid can provide all of the electricity needed for all of the demand throughout the year. So at that level of supply obligation, you have to make sure that you're able to supply to meet all of that demand. And every year in the winter, they come out and say how they're ready to do that.
Now, we keep hearing about how well wind does in, you know, wintry, some windy days. However, a lot of the energy that's consumed is consumed for heating, boilers and so on and so forth. And that is not going to change really that quickly, is it?
It isn't, Pat. And there is very frequently in discourse, the terms electricity and energy are used interchangeably and they're definitely not interchangeable. So, about 80% of the energy that we use is in the form of fossil fuels. It's the petrol, the diesel in transport, it's the gas heating your house, it's the kerosene heating in rural Ireland away from the gas network. So, only just over 20% of the energy we consume is in the form of electricity.
Yeah, and even if you get half of that generated by renewables, the other half is still using fossil fuels. The other half is still using fossil fuels. So we have a massive dependency on fossil fuels. Even looking forward and looking at our commitments, we're not going to hit those targets, are we?
I almost certainly look, I'm not going to forecast the future, but I wouldn't need long odds to bet that we will not be net zero by 2050, nor next turn, nor near it. It is amazing. And it's bonkers, to be honest with you, that we have something set in law that we simply can't do.
There are a few, I suppose, salutary lessons we can learn. You will remember, as I do, the oil crisis of the 1970s, and you had queues outside garages, you had garages saying, regulars only, limited the amount, you know, you could have two gallons of fuel or whatever it was to get you by. That's one thing. We also remember what happened when Russia invaded Ukraine and the decision to no longer depend on Russian oil and gas.
If we take those two instances that you mentioned, going back to the late 1970s, early 1980s, that is precisely why Moneypoint Power Station was built and was built as a coal-fired power station.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:27
2
What significant changes to energy security planning are proposed in the reports?
0:27–5:17
3
How does Ireland's dependence on fossil fuels affect its energy security?
5:17–9:49
4
What are the implications of Ireland's energy supply obligations?
9:49–12:58