Wind energy could provide 16 per cent of energy needs on the island of Ireland by 2010 if the governments north and south make the right decisions, a new report has concluded.
Ireland is in a unique position to promote the growth of wind energy and at least 2,000 megawatts of wind generation could be added to our electricity system in future years, it adds.
The report, by Scottish consultants, Garrad Hassan, says the Republic and Northern Ireland could replicate what Denmark and parts of Germany have done to grow wind power. Two thousand megawatts is equivalent to several large gas- or coal-fired stations.
The report says wind currently provides about 2.4 per cent of electricity on the island of Ireland.
The energy regulator in the north, Ofreg (Office for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas), and the regulator in the Republic, the Commission for Energy Regulation, commissioned the report.
The report will give a boost to wind energy companies, some of whom believe the Government is dragging its heels on wind energy. The report makes clear the 2,000 megawatts prediction is a conservative one and more wind power might be added if regulators make certain changes.
However, the report acknowledges the growth of wind could affect other types of power generation, possibly lowering the need for conventional power.
"The most economic conventional generation can expect to be largely unaffected until wind penetration is very high, and less economic plant will be more severely affected.
"If the market arrangements for reimbursement of those generators do not accurately reflect the costs in this new operating regime, these generators can be expected to object to the expansion of wind," it states.
While the report delivers broadly positive news for wind companies, it points out that without an interconnector to Britain, some wind farms might have to curtail their output from time to time so that conventional power plants can take up the slack.
This is because plants that use fossil fuels have to keep running at a certain minimum level or they could face a shutdown. This process, known as "forced curtailment", essentially involves conventional power plants forcing wind farms off the system for a period.
The report, however, indicates that with 2,000 megawatts of wind power connected to the system, only three per cent of annual wind production would be lost.
Typically, curtailment would occur during summer nights when demand is low.
Wind companies like Airtricity point out that wind farm output is low anyway during the summer period.
"That is the great advantage of wind: it can provide its greatest amount of power precisely at a time when demand is greatest - in the winter months", said Mr Eddie O'Connor, managing director of Airtricity.
