Windmills & Dams

irish1967

This was sprung on a friends family last night.

http://www.irishdigest.com/?p=6739

Surprised a lot of people. This dam is going to be HUGE !! What are your views?

josey_whale

Spirit of ireland got alot of media attention when they launched last year. I was not aware that they have picked out specific locations for these resevoirs though. Source?

In theory, a great idea.... it's basically a way of storing energy. In practice it's a totally different kettle of fish. I can just see the public backlash now. Think NIMBY!

I know i would have concerns if I lived an area that had been earmarked for flooding. But I would give it very careful consideration. This is a big idea and very forward looking. I think this country needs more people to think like this.

irish1967

The plans were outlined to landowners in the area the other night in a local hotel. They did say that it was dependant on local support and of course the purchase of the vast amount of land required.

Harps

I never knew they'd already selected areas for this, Ive been following the thread in the infrastructure forum for a while and its a strangely progressive idea for this country.

Even if they somehow progress towards construction it'll still take years with protests, objections, environmental surveys, finance etc etc but from what I know of it at least, the pro's outweigh the cons

North_West_Art

The Kilcar project sounds terrific. Would the energy be sent straight onto the national grid?

irish1967

Judging by what I read one dam would provide a quarter of Irelands energy needs. The plan is to build 5 I think and become completely energy self sufficant. Excess energy would then be sold to the UK.
Fabulous idea. Sounds like something that Dubai would do glad to see real forward thinking for a change.

Adamcp898

Anyone have a link to a map outlining where the dam will be and the area to be flooded?

Also is sea water usually used for these things? I mean presumably the dam will have to be built higher than the power station for it to work but then that means the sea water would need to be pumped up to the resevoir which would in turn cost energy??

Doesn't quite make complete sense but maybe if I seen the full plans I'd see what I'm missing. Either that or do they mean the resevoir to only effectively generate electricity for peak usage times i.e. they generate energy at peak times allowing water down from the resevoir but during off peak times they expend energy pumping water up to the resevoir.

Domscard

Very interesting approach - can't wait to hear more!
Totally off topic, but at the right hand side of the page in that link, there's a flashing ad for Leitrim .. or Leirim as it is there. No 't' available any more for visitors then

josey_whale

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Doesn't quite make complete sense but maybe if I seen the full plans I'd see what I'm missing. Either that or do they mean the resevoir to only effectively generate electricity for peak usage times i.e. they generate energy at peak times allowing water down from the resevoir but during off peak times they expend energy pumping water up to the resevoir.

No Map..

You have it exactly right. The idea here is to use the excess energy produced by wind turbines to pump sea water up to the reservoir during off-peak energy usage (eg at night). During times of high demand or when there is no wind, the water can be used for electricty generation. The system is known as Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity [Wikipedia]. Ireland has has a small example of such a system in Turlough Hill [Wikipedia] in Co. Wicklow

Durnish

very interesting. I think there is/was a small version at Campsie in Co Derry.

Glenman

With 63 objections to a wind farm in the Glen of Glenties I can just imagine how this will go down!

irish1967

josey_whale wrote: »

No Map..

You have it exactly right. The idea here is to use the excess energy produced by wind turbines to pump sea water up to the reservoir during off-peak energy usage (eg at night). During times of high demand or when there is no wind, the water can be used for electricty generation. The system is known as Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity [Wikipedia]. Ireland has has a small example of such a system in Turlough Hill [Wikipedia] in Co. Wicklow

The planned Donegal dam would be 100 times larger than this. Yes.. 100

Durnish

"With what will they build it, dear Lisa, dear Lisa?

All the empty houses, the houses my dear."

ednwireland

isnt a seawater dam going to muck up the water table with saltwater ?

Noreen1

North_West_Art wrote: »

The Kilcar project sounds terrific. Would the energy be sent straight onto the national grid?

AFAIK, (and I am open to correction on this) this is being developed by a private company, who initially planned to sell the electricity to Britain.

It was discussed on an RTE programme about a fortnight ago - Eamon Ryan seemed interested, so who knows what may transpire?

Noreen

North_West_Art

its a wonder why they dont look to build this project in Scotland then, surely there must be equally suitable locations there, save them having to transfer the energy over the Irish Sea... or maybe the power would be sold to the North?

Noreen1

North_West_Art wrote: »

its a wonder why they dont look to build this project in Scotland then, surely there must be equally suitable locations there, save them having to transfer the energy over the Irish Sea... or maybe the power would be sold to the North?

I got the impression that there are long-term plans for some sort of electricity exchange program between the UK and Ireland.

I just read every link on the Spirit of Ireland website, and they mention selling excess power to the UK, which is definitely not what the guy said on tv. - I wish I could remember the name of the programme - then I could try to find it on rte player.

Maybe he just meant that they initially planned to sell to the UK, and that the Irish government actually got something right, for once, and negotiated/are negotiating to buy it?

Noreen

sesswhat

North_West_Art wrote: »

or maybe the power would be sold to the North?

There is a single all-island market which all the big generators sell into and everyone buys from.

Firblog

Noreen1 wrote: »

I got the impression that there are long-term plans for some sort of electricity exchange program between the UK and Ireland.

I just read every link on the Spirit of Ireland website, and they mention selling excess power to the UK, which is definitely not what the guy said on tv. - I wish I could remember the name of the programme - then I could try to find it on rte player.

Maybe he just meant that they initially planned to sell to the UK, and that the Irish government actually got something right, for once, and negotiated/are negotiating to buy it?

Noreen

Watched the same program, Pat Kenny on Monday nights, called Tonight or something...

My impression of it was that they were planning this to supply the UK market as they beleive that there will be a shortage of power in the UK market in the very near future, whereas we (Ireland/ESB)- esp with the recession hitting - will have enough generating capacity for the foreseeable future.
The other BIG stumbling block for this to go ahead is the transportation of the power to the market, not alone does there need to be an interconnector built from Ireland to the UK, the National Grid also needs to be upgraded. ESB have been trying to upgrade the power lines in Donegal for years and have gotten no-where because of objections.

Harps

Yeah I was thinking about that a while back, the Donegal grid hass nowhere near enough capacity to transfer the amount of power that would be generated from this.

I think the fact that its taken so long to just try and get planning permission for pylons tells you a lot about this project, I just dont see any possible way it'll get through the planning process in the next 30 years. One person making an objection can hold the thing up for years and Im pretty sure this will get hundreds if not thousands of objections

Noreen1

I think there is no question about needing an upgrade - I'm not so sure about blaming the objectors, though.

AFAIK, the proposed new line runs very close to some houses. On the other hand, the alternative of an underground supply line is probably very expensive.

At any rate, it's about time the ESB and the protesters got together and worked out a compromise - and if that means "piping" the supply underground where it is close to houses, and going overground on the rest of the proposed route, then so be it!

I haven't paid a lot of attention to this debate, TBH, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from the little I have read, I get the impression that both sides have dug their heels in, instead of genuinely trying to reach a compromise. Unless that changes, then I have to agree that it will be 20 years before any upgrade can take place.

Noreen

rightyabe

Very intersting.

Any Updates?

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

Carrickman

It would bring well welcomed short and long term employment into the area sure what the hell have we left? The fishing industry has been sold off and the knitwear industry is not what it was and to be honest a lot of people just want to get out and do an honest days work and if this is the next chance well so be it!

SML00

What is the plans on the kilcar site now is it going ahead ??