UCC Environmental Research Institute

In today's column I explore batteries, a vital part of the energy transition and essential to end dependance on fossil fuels. Battery technology advances have enabled great strides in electro-mobility. In the article, I speak about my e-bike (photo below): with a battery weighing just over 1 kg, it can power my hilly 20 km commute. Batteries also store the power of the wind and sun for times when renewable generation is low, and will help us get to zero carbon electricity. In the article, I also discuss my views on why the damage caused by mining battery minerals can't be ignored, but shouldn't slow down battery adoption. Let me know what you think.

Delighted to speak with David McCullagh on RTE #Six_One last night about the challenges facing Ireland as we seeks to accelerate renewables growth and energy transition. The good news, as pointed out in the recent Climate Change Advisory Council Ireland report, is that Ireland achieved a significant reduction in electricity related CO2 emissions in 2023. Emissions totalled 7.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023, down from 9.6 Mt in 2022 a 21% reduction. As my colleague Paul Deane has highlighted, this reduction was achieved primarily due to a reduction in coal fired electricity generation and an increase in electricity imports. The bad news is that wind energy in Ireland grew by only 4% in 2023, despite our strong track record in wind energy. Renewable energy represented approx 41% of Ireland's electricity demand in 2023 with wind energy accounting for most of that. The low growth in 2023 unfortunately relates largely to an effectively 'stalled' planning system, but also to the need to further improve and develop our electricity grid. There are many wind farm applications currently going through the planning system, but the process time is taking far too long. The first wind farm application to receive planning permission in 2023 was as late as September. Fixing this requires resources to recruit planners into the Local Authorities and in An Bord Pleanála. This is crucial to addressing the delays in making the decisions on wind farm applications. It's about accelerating processes and timelines rather than reducing the integrity of the planning system. We also need to ensure the Local Authority Climate Action Plans and Development Plans are aligned with the national policies, specifically here relating to the need to accelerate renewable energy supply. We have seen how our dependency on fossil fuels has exposed us to very high energy costs over the past few years and need to protect ourselves against this going forward. Another aspect of the electricity transition I discussed relates to the electricity networks. We have ambitious plans from EirGrid Group (Shaping Our Electricity Future) and from ESB (Networks for Net Zero Strategy) and we need to support, resource and deliver on these plans to revamp our grids to maintain and drive our global leadership in system integration of renewable energy. The interview is available from here (starting at 25:14 minutes) https://lnkd.in/g36s7Qxw.