"Green" policies are destroying this country

You forgot to mention the minor issue of them using coal in their manufacture and slave labour

Tho it seems these are non concerns these days for greens and lefties

You really are one of those people that will not look under the bonnet, but will ignore the flashing dashboard lights and sit wondering how it could have happened when the engine blows up.

China does not give a toss for your global emissions. Their economy to them is the be all and end all and they will do whatever it takes to safeguard it. 2021 and 2022 China experienced low winds and drought that crippled their hydro-power causing blackouts. They didn`t just start adding new solar, they started adding new coal plants as well.

From 2021 until end of 2027 China will have added 1,411 GW installed solar capacity and 425 GW of installed coal burning turbines. Before you get too carried away with those figures; the capacity factor of China`s solar is 15.8%. The capacity factor of coal is ~65%. Over four times greater than solar. Taking their capacity factors into account, solar would generate 230 GW, Coal 276 GW.

Does that look to you as a country that is rushing headlong to get out of coal to replace it with solar ?

As to why have the done that with coal. it`s simple enough. As I am sick and tired of telling you, to China emissions mean little or nothing, - regardless of your daydreaming that they do - when compared to their economy, and they were never going to get caught out by blackouts again due to renewables after 2021 and 2022.

There is also the little matter of China and gas. Their consumption of gas is projected to rise annually to 650 bmc or more by 2040 from its present 425 bcm. To put that 650 bcm in perspective, the 27 E.U. states in total consumed just half that (332 bcm) in 2025. Makes you wonder what they are going to use that gas for does it not ?

Anybody expecting China to become a green emissions free super economy would need to wake up and smell the coffee. While some will no doubt still stay daydreaming, China will be selling all that green tech using coal to produce it.

More lies(I never said it was terrible, I have no problem with nuclear) and misdirection because your central argument (that solar/wind power is worthless and doesn't produce anything most of the time) has been exposed as complete rubbish.

More strawmen, more made up nonsense.

10% capacity doesn't mean it only produces power 10% of the time - surely that isn't the basis for your nonsense argument?

Wind/Solar require a backup source of generation. This isn't new information. It's not like you have discovered something the rest of the world has missed. Yet countries all over the world are pouring hundreds of billions into solar/wind every year. It's as if that is how the system is designed to work!

Yes, if we had built nuclear power plants 40-50 years ago we would have cheaper electricity today. But we didn't.

Russian not invading Ukraine and the US not bombing Iran would also have lowered prices but they did so we are where we are.

Starting the process of building them now wouldn't have any positive impact on prices for decades. SMR might be a useful tool in 10 years. EU is nowhere on SMR so we will have to rely on foreign designs and tech if we go down that route.

One of the few things that will bring down prices is to accelerate the delivery of wind/solar so we reduce the amount of time we need any gas power.

Hungary - massive state subsidies. It's not comparable.

Finland - it does have a lot of wind power but it also has hydro and biomass as it's backup which is currently much cheaper than natural gas. Their most recent nuclear power plant took 18 years to build. It's not a near term solution.

Yes, solar is obviously very limited in Ireland in the winter but wind is usually plentiful.

We have to play the hand we were dealt not the one some people on here wish we were dealt. We don't have a history in nuclear, we don't have massive hydro potential.

Right now we have the worst of both worlds - most of the time we are paying natural gas prices for our renewables while also having to foot the cost building a renewable grid.

We already have an offshore wind-farm. It's ain't rocket science.

Are you really comparing the complexity of building a nuclear power planet to an offshore wind-farm? Is what your latest hot take?

You are being a bit misguided there on a number of issue.

The Hungarian government owns it`s nuclear plants and they provide ~50% of their electricity. Under the marginal pricing policy Hungary`s nuclear benefits from the marginal pricing policy same as renewables do. The difference is that where renewables pocket those excess profits, Hungary uses them to keep the price of electricity low. The lowest in Europe and are planning to keep doing that by increasing their percentage of nuclear to 70%

France have also been doing the same, as well as their net profits from nuclear generated exports now earning them over €5 Billion annually. Poland are planning on doing the same with the state owning their NPPs. Belgium now one of the most expensive for electricity, has done a complete about turn on nuclear and are now negotiating on nationalising their NPP`s, extending their lifespan and building new NPP`s to do the same and reduce the price of electricity to the consumer.

Finland has the same population as Ireland but consumes 2.6 times the electricity we do. OLK 3 may have been years late and over budget, but the €11 Billion it cost provides Finland with ~14% of their electricity. The equivalent of 36.6% of our present requirements. So tell me, how much would we get of our demand from renewables for €11 Billion ?

Before OLK 3 came on line Finland imported 20% of their requirements. 2025 their net imports were 4%. December 2022 before OLK came on line their average wholesale electricity price was €245.98 per MWh. By April 2023 that fell to €60.55 per MWh and is currently €56 per MWh, third lowest in the E.U. Ours is €131 per MWH and their domestic consumers are paying one quarter of the price we are paying. So explain to me again where renewables are giving us affordable electricity, or ever will, with the cost of this present plan ?

We are not dealing with the hand we were dealt. We are dealing with the hand the green`s in government landed us with.

Wind is plentiful here in Winter until it is not. Winter is when we experience our greatest demand when solar is might as well be doing nothing for all it would supply to the grid, and wind generation has fallen, not just here but all over Europe, to 6% and less for extended periods. Weather does not matter to nuclear generation, it will generate 24/7 regardless of weather and will provide base load which renewables cannot. So how are you going to deal with both of those problems using just renewables and at what cost that will give us affordable electricity that would not bankrupt our economy and still have consumers paying the highest rate on the planet ?

I just pointed on that it's isn't comparing like for like. The market rate in Hungary is closer to 20c than 10c. Bad faith arguments, one after another.

There are quite a lot of copper and silver in solar panels. Some copper can be reclaimed, however, silver is lost. Sheer amount of panels which will be needed and periodically dumped will make it unfeasible over the time. Unless someone figure out how to recycle old solar panels, price of silver and copper increase so much it will make solar even more expensive.

As I have already said Hungary has massive discounts on their electricity. The first 2500kwh is discounted to below 10c per hour. That is enough for a lot house holds that don't have a heat pump. Above the 2500 it doubles.

The figures also show that Hungary have far more solar than we do.

What is your solution in the short term so?

Curtailment will have a cost but nothing like the extra cost of paying current the gas price that we currently do for the price of all electricity.

You really should learn more about Hungary before suggesting anyone follow their lead. Selling assets to the PM buddies who then bankrupts the power station and sells it back to the state in terrible condition at an inflated price. Yes, let's follow their lead.

Yes, they are recyclable but at enormous cost. Actually cost of recycling them exceeding recovered value so they are mostly discarded, dumped or shipped to third world countries where recycling is rather crude affair.

You try to show that silver amount in them is small but in grand scheme of things you are wrong. There are currently 18-20 billion of kilograms of panels in use, and quite a lot of them near end of life. That mean there are 18.000-20.000 mt of silver tied in them. Roughly 3/4 or annual silver production.

Right now PV industry consumes 16-19% of annual production and minuscule fraction of it is being recovered. This is third of industrial demand which stands on roughly 59%. Greens want us believe that we need more solar and that we can have it but math does not agree with this notion unless as I said someone clever will figure out economical way to recover it from PV waste. We cant even double current PV generation as that will mean PV will eat 32-48% of annual production and that is simply not happening because other industries need their silver like EV's or data centres and electronics in general. Not to mention that rise in silver price also mean rise in people who will keep silver as jewellery or bullion as investment or speculation. That alone, right this moment represent 20-25% for jewellery and silverware and 15-25% for bullion and coins off annual production.

Its a fairy tale operating on promises and expectation of some breakthrough in recycling and recovery which may or may not come.