Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

The Wind Energy Delusion

2

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 12,948 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    The answer to my question that you quoted is: The sun has gone down by 4pm.

    Engineer that :cool:
    Yes, I saw that, thought you had make a mistake and took the question on good faith. I've never seen anyone suggesting that you can capture solar energy after the sun has gone down. Otherwise, what was the point of the question? Just to be argumentative? This isn't the After Hours forum. :rolleyes:

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Demand is much higher in winter than in summer, see the difference between peaks and valleys...and their values . The sun is brightest when the grid has least need for electricity

    http://www.eirgrid.com/operations/systemperformancedata/systemdemand/

    compare say 0w/06/2010 and 06/02/2010 on the DEMAND side, not generation.

    Solar is no good for the Irish Grid as such, it has its uses in domestic environments for preheating water and that is pretty much it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,284 ✭✭✭dubhthach


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    Solar is no good for the Irish Grid as such, it has its uses in domestic environments for preheating water and that is pretty much it.

    Indeed though you wonder how much electricity is used for water heating in Ireland. Though that's sorta a different question :)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Solar if used to preheat water during the day will save on electricity during the 4-7pm peak later on. However most solar today is not used in urban apartment blocks with electrical heating but in rural detched houses with oil heating.

    Therefore it is not really an electricity or electrical demand substitute, more of an oil substitute.

    Furthermore it is not despatchable, not easily storable save as hot water, only locally transportable to a watet tank and is almost impossible to model. Consequently it is utterly irrelevant to the grid. Sadly it is at its most useful when demand for it is lowest, ie the summer.

    If I was building a B&B in Kerry where my peak business demand correlates strongly with peak solar activity I would be all over it all the same...damn sure. :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭ei.sdraob


    Ive a panel on roof above my head heating water, was fairly overcast last few days seen no movement on pump, today seems more promising up to 30c already, last week had hot water (300liters @ 60c) most days for baths and shover's

    the thing barely worked between November and last week

    thats a long time to smelly if it wasn't for oil...


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭ei.sdraob


    another article (free registration might be required)
    Ireland is planning to take a giant leap in wind power capacity, propelling it to a leading position in Europe. The government wants to increase the share of wind power in the country's electricity production capacity to over 40%, more than double the current share. The problem is that these plans come at a time when demand has been falling as a result of the economic crisis, so that their realisation would lead to a huge overcapacity in the electricity market. The new government is beginning to show some signs of concern.

    ....


    In other words, Ireland is headed for a huge surplus production capacity. This seems senseless at first sight, but there is some sense in it. After all, spinning reserve has to be available when the wind does not blow

    .....


    What will it all cost? That is the big unknown at the moment. Commercial sources put wind energy at roughly €2 million per MW. The total cost of the 2020 wind target at an additional 3,000 MW comes out at €6 billion. Meanwhile the Whitegate and Aghada CCGTs between them cost €767 million, while Endesa's two new gas plants can't fall much below €850 million.

    What has to be added to this is the extra cost to the grid of reliably gathering in the power produced by a large number of widely distributed wind farms. The obvious problem here is that the bulk of the new wind capacity is on the other side of the country from the main areas of demand, most notably Dublin. Eirgrid’s development plan suggests that virtually every province of Ireland will require expansion of the grid, with an additional 1,100 km of new line and upgrading on 2,200 km. An early Eirgrid study - Grid 25 - put the cost of this at €4 billion

    an extra 10 billion will have to be spend to meet the 40% target, i wonder where this money will come from.... :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,309 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    There was a question above about hydroelectric - are there any sites left in Ireland able to be tapped for significant hydroelectric? Are there any improvements that could be made to existing sites like Ardnacrusha?

    At present there is a massively expensive tunnel being drilled under Niagara Falls to increase generating capacity on the Canadian side.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,284 ✭✭✭dubhthach


    dowlingm wrote: »
    There was a question above about hydroelectric - are there any sites left in Ireland able to be tapped for significant hydroelectric? Are there any improvements that could be made to existing sites like Ardnacrusha?

    At present there is a massively expensive tunnel being drilled under Niagara Falls to increase generating capacity on the Canadian side.

    I don't think there's any undeveloped resources left for Hydro in Ireland, unless of course you include stuff like Pumped-storage in your definition of Hydro. It's a good question regarding Arndacrusha, the units are over 80years old now. You wonder if you get a higher power output out of newer turbines etc on the same head of water. Of course the waterflow at Niagara is stupendous in comparison with what's available here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,309 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    dubhthach wrote: »
    I don't think there's any undeveloped resources left for Hydro in Ireland, unless of course you include stuff like Pumped-storage in your definition of Hydro. It's a good question regarding Arndacrusha, the units are over 80years old now. You wonder if you get a higher power output out of newer turbines etc on the same head of water. Of course the waterflow at Niagara is stupendous in comparison with what's available here.
    For the purposes of this question I meant conventional hydro rather than pumped store.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 370 ✭✭wiseguy


    http://www.eirgrid.com/media/Quarterly%20Review%20Issue%2029%20-%20Spring%202010.pdf

    On page 15 there are graphs of installed wind and generation, very interesting, expensive & unreliable.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Aidan1


    What will it all cost? That is the big unknown at the moment. Commercial sources put wind energy at roughly €2 million per MW. The total cost of the 2020 wind target at an additional 3,000 MW comes out at €6 billion. Meanwhile the Whitegate and Aghada CCGTs between them cost €767 million, while Endesa's two new gas plants can't fall much below €850 million.

    Leaving aside the factually inaccuracies, can anybody spot the failure of logic here?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,593 ✭✭✭Sea Sharp


    Hopefully not a stupid suggestion but is there anything to be said for having a battery (or several) in each home hooked up to the mains.

    If this could be done successfully then theoretically if the energy produced by our wind infrastructure averaged out at 100% of our requirements we would no longer need imported fossil fuels.

    Assuming the battery for each home pitch isn't feasible, what kind of energy efficiency would we be looking at by pumping water up to a reservoir when an energy surplus is available and then allowing it to flow through a turbine when the wind stops?

    edit:
    Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity has 75% efficiency.

    So if we had renewable energy producing 133% of our energy needs used in conjunction with reservoirs we'd be self sufficient.

    This raises the question: how large would the reservoirs need to be to accomodate droughts of wind?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Sea Sharp wrote: »
    Hopefully not a stupid suggestion but is there anything to be said for having a battery (or several) in each home hooked up to the mains.

    If this could be done successfully then theoretically if the energy produced by our wind infrastructure averaged out at 100% of our requirements we would no longer need imported fossil fuels.

    Not stupid at all. Eirgrid tested a battery tied to a wind farm some years ago...basically a big tank of toxic liquid called a Flow Battery ...but I think that company went bankrupt in 2008 or so. Wouldn't fancy one of them yokes in my house :D Flow Batteries are grid ready batteries...at least in theory.

    They are not that suitable for home use...as you can see below. You probably wouldn't want one even if you could afford it.

    power+grid+operating+battery+cells.jpg

    Good articles on the latest situation in re: Flow Batteries here. and a practical example here with a much more detailed and well presented overview from Engineers Ireland Here . BTW If Vanadium based ones ( technically the most generally promising) really did work the world would run out of Vanadium in no time and the cost would surge thereby making them less promising in practice...just an observation.

    My own theory is that if batteries become prevalent in cars the following wave will be in peoples houses, yes. For now the most efficient and cheap batteries are tractor battery type rigs ...48v DC. Most cost effective despite their shortcomings...and the side effect ...acid! Flow Batteries could benefit from a breakthough before car batteries do, who knows. However car batteries are the more likely technology driver and not forgetting the law of uniintended consequences of course.

    Naturally someone 'claims' to have a new technology breakthrough every few months ...Li Poly or Lithium Poly being the most recent example I noticed but frankly your best bet is still good ole cheapish Lead Acid at 48v :)

    However that last link contains a rather interesting equivalence measure, Watts Per Kg and Watts per Kg is the current holy grail as you can see....because that means range.

    Current electric cars and their batteries ..eg the Nissan Leaf...will do 100-150 miles before requiring a recharge that will take 30-60 minutes minimum. Even new generation cars such as the New Rolls Royce with a massive battery will not bust 150 miles per charge.

    This range/charge needs to DOUBLE in order for electric cars to get competitive with petrol and without an increase in battery weight.

    Once they get to a range of 500 Miles on a single charge that takes 10 minutes the Watts per KG measure will arouse much less interest of course...because an electric car will then do the same mileage as a petrol car between stops at the garage. :) It also means you can sell your battery charge back to the grid at peak demand :D But for now we need to get to 300 miles not 150 miles.

    Naturally some technology will appear that is a tad too heavy for a car but ideal for home use....I don't think it has appeared yet though. Batteries are an ongoing project.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,361 ✭✭✭mgmt


    I think the simplest method of storing excess electricity in Ireland would be to produce hydrogen and then store the hydrogen gas in empty gas fields.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    That would be the Wind - Hydrogen model. Explained rather well here (storage issues aside) . That presentation BTW dates from the hydrogen car days, we seem to have gone off that idea in the past 5 years :)

    While I do not recall any Wind - Hydrogen discussions or proposals in Ireland I must say that is understandable after the palaver in Rossport in recent years :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Aidan1


    This range/charge needs to DOUBLE in order for electric cars to get competitive with petrol and without an increase in battery weight.

    They will, but only in about 2015-16.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,797 ✭✭✭munchkin_utd


    Aidan1 wrote: »
    They will, but only in about 2015-16.
    and in the meantime the manufacturers are working on wee 2 cylinder petrol engines as a backup to avoid having you stranded.

    Most regular journeys are short (school run etc.) so that sort of a solution would do the best.
    (and for lads doing many hundreds of km per day, thats an extreme that will eventually have a solutuion)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    http://www.penipress.com/2011/03/24/battery-battles-tesla-expects-new-model-s-will-drive-300-miles-without-a-charge/

    State of the Art is expensive. !
    Tesla plans to release three different versions of the Model S sedan based mostly on battery life. The basic Model S with have a battery designed to run 160 miles on a single charge. It will cost $49,900 after a $7,500 federal tax credit.


    The second battery option will have a 230-mile range, but will add about $10,000 to the price.



    The Model S with 300-mile range should cost around $20,000 more than the basic version.

    That is $10,000 per extra 70 mile range. We Irish remember Eamon Ryan drooling and gibbering over the Nissan Leaf.
    Even the recently released Nissan Motors Co. (TYO: 7201) Leaf has similar limitations, with an estimated battery life of just 100 miles

    And then (different source to above)
    The Leaf can be fully recharged from empty in 8 hours from a 220/240-volt 30 amp supply

    Imagine waiting 8 hours in Athlone on your way to Galway....although 4 hours should do it :( So fast chargers are needed..say every 80 miles.
    Using DC fast charging, the battery pack can be charged to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes Nissan developed its own 500-volt DC fast charger that went on sale in Japan for around US$16,800 in May 2010 and plans to install 200 at dealers in Japan. Nissan warns that if fast charging is the primary way of recharging, then the normal and gradual battery capacity loss is about 10% more than regular 220-volt charging over a 10-year period.

    Even 30 minutes is a tad long, especially as Fast chargers in Ireland will be located at ESB Substations in Industrial Estates....and with no coffee shops about.

    In Cold Weather you may find yourself recharging twice on one journey as field trials showed with another 100 mile range car.
    Another concern reported is that the already restrictive 100-mile (160 km) range on a fully charged battery reduces to between 80 to 90 miles (140 km) during very cold weather. In the UK an abnormally harsh winter also showed how very low temperatures diminishes power output until the battery is ‘warmed-up’ once in use. There was even one report of the range dropping below 40 miles (64 km) in sub-zero weather.There have also been issues with exterior charging points as winter temperatures drop dramatically.

    Hmms, we will need garages again will we, how very 1960s :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,534 ✭✭✭AugustusMinimus


    mgmt wrote: »
    I think the simplest method of storing excess electricity in Ireland would be to produce hydrogen and then store the hydrogen gas in empty gas fields.


    No, the easiest thing to do is to build the interconnector to the UK and to the rest of Europe.

    Germany is completely decommissioning all of it's nuclear power plants within 10 years, essentially opening it's ass to all sorts of energy problems and energy from foreign sources.

    Hell, I hope that Ireland builds enough wind generation for 100% of Irish supply. Export any excess to Europe when the wind is blow, crank up the gas generators or import electricity when the wind isn't blowing.

    Personally, I think we should have a fail safe in the form of a nuclear power plant, but then again, the Irish electorate is the most irrational of all European electorates.

    If we don't have any hydrocarbons to export, we might aswell export electricity from renewables, which lest we forget, is CO2 free and would also aid other countries in their Kyoto targets.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Hell, I hope that Ireland builds enough wind generation for 100% of Irish supply. Export any excess to Europe when the wind is blow, crank up the gas generators or import electricity when the wind isn't blowing.
    Hmm, but that means building Interconnectors in lockstep with wind from now on and dimensioned for average production ( =25% efficiency on the east coast where the interconnectors are and after transmission losses from the west where the wind is).

    So if we add 1000Mw more to the grid and it runs at 25% efficiency at the interconnector we need 250Mw of Interconnector in place for each 1000Mw.

    On a very windy day in summer we can generate 1200Mw for 4000Mw of peak demand and even generate 66% of Summer Night Valley demand which is 1800Mw .....problem is in winter we can often only generate 0.1% out of of 6000Mw of demand :(


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Aidan1


    as Fast chargers in Ireland will be located at ESB Substations in Industrial Estates

    That's interesting. And untrue.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,235 ✭✭✭lucernarian


    Fast chargers will need phenomenal current flows to work (at least to charge those 100-mile type batteries within an hour.

    To charge the nissan leaf in an hour with a house's electricity supply would involve blowing the main fuse. Even to charge it in 4 hours instead of 8 would involve blowing the house fuse if you turn on the kettle while the fridge/freezer/TV/lights are on the go too. Electric showers would possibly be a no-no while the car is charging, even at the existing 8-hour current rating!


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Aidan1 wrote: »
    That's interesting. And untrue.

    It is true, here is the ESB Fast Charger Map...and note how elegantly they avoid motorway service areas :( They will put SLOW chargers on street and in MSAs ....not FAST chargers Aidan!!!

    esbfc.jpg


    http://www.esb.ie/main/press/press-release399.jsp
    Speaking at the launch of the charge points, Padraig McManus said ESB plans to build 3500 charge points by the end of 2011 – a total of 2000 domestic units and a further 1500 on-street charge points. Up to 30 fast chargers will also be installed by end of next year, he added.

    The street chargers are NOT fast chargers.

    Roughly how it works is:

    Battery running on fumes, need a full charge!

    1. A Light Home Charger charges AC to 100% at 13 Amps in around 14-16 hours. You may shower cook and vacumn as always.
    2. A Street Charger charges AC to 100% at 30-40 Amps within 8 Hours, longer at lower amps of course. If you install a similar Heavy Charger at home, you will need it wired to the fuse board with an interlock/combi trip to ensure the Cooker and Shower trips are isolated while you run the car charger. Same as having 2 electric showers installed but only one can run. You will need a Heavy Charger if you want to use night rate electricity only..and a night rate meter too.
    3. A Fast Charger charges to 80% using DC at high amps in 20 minutes. It could reach 100% in an hour but should get to the next charging point on 80% battery charge. In Cold weather you will need to charge in both Mullingar and Athlone if you want to get from Galway to Dublin thereby adding over an hour to the trip.

    See page 15 of this presentation by the ESB CTO himself :D

    http://download.intel.com/corporate/education/emea/event/irc/files/presentations/ireland/T4_SenanTMcGrath.pdf

    Having said all that I would change our building regulations wiring specs right now to ensure that a length of cooker wire is run from the Fuse Board to the front door....for future electric car charging and that the fuseboard is big enough for Interlocks . We don't want a repeat of the comms ducting ballsup of the last decade :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,235 ✭✭✭lucernarian


    Bit optimistic there SB, you quoted it yourself:
    The Leaf can be fully recharged from empty in 8 hours from a 220/240-volt 30 amp supply

    Using a 13A socket will give you over double that time naturally.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    It is true, here is the ESB Fast Charger Map...and note how elegantly they avoid motorway service areas :(
    First thing that jumped out at me in the map; facepalm territory
    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    2. A Street Charger charges AC to 100% at 30-40 Amps within 8 Hours, longer at lower amps of course. If you install a similar Heavy Charger at home, you will need it wired to the fuse board with an interlock/combi trip to ensure the Cooker and Shower trips are isolated while you run the car charger. Same as having 2 electric showers installed but only one can run. You will need a Heavy Charger if you want to use night rate electricity only..and a night rate meter too.
    Contrary to popular belief, modern electric ovens are low current devices, many have a 13A plug, while others with the heavy duty connection have a max power rating of 2200W, much less than a kettle of 3kW kettle(13A @240V)

    The register had a good article last week with a paper from the John Muir Trust( who are anti- wind, but the paper shows where they get their data from)
    From Nov08 til Dec10, the average wind capacity to wind generation in Britain's grid was about 25%. The usual number bandied about is 30% capacity, so this makes wind even less of a runner. Bearing in mind there's a much larger geographical spread of wind farms connected to the british Grid than here.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Speaking of the Reg and generation stats.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/21/wind_turbines_too_close_together/
    The latest wind farms now going into service use huge turbines with rotor diameters in the 100m range, expected to offer large outputs. But according to engineering professor and fluid dynamics expert Charles Meneveau of Johns Hopkins University, there's a problem.

    “The early experience is that they are producing less power than expected,” says Meneveau. “Some of these projects are underperforming.”

    The prof, who has investigated air flow in wind farms for years, looked into the matter of the underperforming monster turbines along with Johan Meyers of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.

    “I believe our results are quite robust,” says Meneveau. “They indicate that large wind farm operators are going to have to space their turbines farther apart.”

    Big turbines are at the moment generally installed about seven rotor diameters apart, but Meneveau and Meyers say that the optimum spacing is actually 15 diameters, slightly more than twice as far apart.

    If this plan were followed, a wind farm covering a given area would only be able to install a quarter of the number of turbines it could have under today's planning assumptions. Though the amount of energy generated per turbine would be the best possible, it seems unlikely that such efficiency gains could possibly compensate for the cut in numbers.

    On the other hand, if windfarms continue to be constructed with turbines crowded more closely together, they will continue to produce less electricity than their builders had expected.

    This 'too close' problem is called Wake Effect, from HERE I got a nice photo and that link posits a 20% drop from optimal from spacing based on that particular wind farm in the photo.

    horns_rev.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 724 ✭✭✭dynamick


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    It is true, here is the ESB Fast Charger Map...and note how elegantly they avoid motorway service areas :( They will put SLOW chargers on street and in MSAs ....not FAST chargers Aidan!!!
    ESB's site says:
    ESB wrote:
    Fast charge points will be located at service stations and roadside cafés to cater for those on longer journeys. An 80% full charge can be achieved in 20-25 minutes
    http://www.esb.ie/main/ecars/e-charging/charging-an-ecar.jsp

    I don't think that any fast charging point have yet been deployed by the ESB.

    Electric cars with the current range are unsuitable for Irish people with regular need for intercity travel. Person living in Dublin who does a handful of ex-Dublin trips a year might go for it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    RT&#201 wrote: »
    ESRI wants energy subsidies curbed

    Updated: 13:53, Wednesday, 27 April 2011
    A review of energy policy calls for an end to subsidies for offshore wind and wave electricity generators, and a curbing of subsidies for onshore wind turbines.
    0004074c-314.jpg

    The review by the Economic and Social Research Institute also calls for gas from the Corrib field in Co Mayo to be brought ashore urgently, to bolster energy security.

    The recession has reduced demand for energy in Ireland, and increased the need to reduce energy costs to Irish businesses and homes.

    Coupled with the higher cost of capital due to the perceived risk of investing in Ireland, the ESRI says energy-related spending plans should be reviewed and policies changed.

    It calls for the scrapping of subsidies to offshore wind and wave power installations, saying they could impose high costs on Irish consumers with no environmental benefit.

    Onshore wind turbines can provide the energy needed, and can be justified as a hedge against high gas prices, it adds.

    The review says the climate change bill could have imposed high costs on the Irish economy without environmental gains, and says future climate change policy must minimise the cost of compliance.

    It also says Ireland's electricity supply is at risk because almost all natural gas - which fuels 57% of the State's power stations - comes through a single pipeline from Scotland.

    To overcome this vulnerability, the State either needs to invest in a second gas interconnector, or move urgently to ensure that Shell brings the Corrib gas field into production, the ESRI argues.

    This would provide the State with two sources of gas supply for the next five years, at no cost to the taxpayer, it says.
    http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0427/energy.html


  • Registered Users Posts: 86 ✭✭luohaoran


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    That would be the Wind - Hydrogen model. Explained rather well here (storage issues aside) . That presentation BTW dates from the hydrogen car days, we seem to have gone off that idea in the past 5 years :)

    While I do not recall any Wind - Hydrogen discussions or proposals in Ireland I must say that is understandable after the palaver in Rossport in recent years :)

    Hydrogen is not dead and burried yet.

    Here is a company that won the shell springboard award, thus credible.
    They have come up with a way to store hydrogen at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, which when heated, releases the hydrogen.
    Can be mixed with current fuels to work in standard combustion engines, or with some modification to the engine, it can burn pure hydrogen.
    (I'm guessing the modification would be to put a heater in the tank, and deal with any residue perhaps.)

    They do say, however, they are working with new formulas to reduce the cost of the current material, to make it scalable, but it seems reasonable to think they might succeed , and soon enough.

    They boast/anticipate the final cost of the fuel will be of the order of one third of that of the net cost for petrol/diesel.

    So if they do what the say they can, its game on for hydrogen, and thus good news for wind.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 624 ✭✭✭Aidan1


    Fast chargers in Ireland will be located at ESB Substations in Industrial Estates

    Again, entirely untrue.

    From today's IT;


    Electric cars to recharge at petrol stations

    RECHARGING STATIONS with the capacity to power up an electric car’s battery from zero to 80 per cent in 30 minutes, giving it a range of more than 100km (60 miles) will start appearing on forecourts next month.

    ESB eCars yesterday announced details of agreements with Topaz, the Maxol Group and Lidon which will see a number of fast-charge points installed in service stations along inter-urban routes. Drivers will be able give their cars a charge of 80 per cent for about €6. A home charge, at night, will cost half that.

    The company is hoping the charging stations will help people overcome “range anxiety”, a major stumbling block for electric cars to date. The stations will allow motorists drive across the State with just one recharge.

    The first fast-charge points will be operational in Topaz stations in Monaghan and Cashel, followed shortly afterwards by Cork, Athlone and Cavan. Standard charge points will also be installed at these locations.

    The first Maxol service stations to get a fast-charge point will be in Navan, Co Meath, while Lidon Limited, which trades as Junction 14, will install fast- and standard-charge points on the new motorway service area on the M7 at Monasterevin by June.

    Some 30 fast-charge points will be installed at stations by the end of 2011. ESB eCars says the development “marks a major milestone in promoting the wider adoption of electric cars in Ireland”.

    ESB eCars also has plans for 1,500 public-charge points and 2,000 home units, depending on the take-up rate. The Government wants to see about 250,000 electric cars on Irish roads within a decade and has plans for 6,000 by the end of next year.

    Last week, a grant scheme for buyers of electric vehicles was approved by Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte. All vehicles with CO2 emissions under 75g per km will be eligible for a purchase subsidy of up to €5,000. The department said it would also apply to all eligible vehicles sold between January 1st and the start of the scheme. Figures show no new electric vehicles were put on the road during this period.

    ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus said that in spite of the slow take-up, the introduction of fast-charge points “represents a big step forward”. He said they “will help to reassure drivers that longer journeys between urban centres are practical”.

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0429/1224295674085.html


Advertisement