Oonagh Buckley, Secretary General of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment; Terence O’Rourke, Chairman of ESB; Paddy Hayes, CEO of ESB; Minister for Climate, Energy and Environment Darragh O’Brien; and Bevin Cody, ESB Networks, pictured at an EU Presidency event at Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station
PEOPLE must see benefits to their local area in order to support major infrastructural projects, the CEO of EirGrid has told a conference in South-East Clare with the Secretary General of the Department of Environment referencing signs in the county objecting to wind turbines.
To kick off Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, energy priorities for the State within the historic turbine hall of Ardnacrusha Power Station.
Secretary General at the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment, Oonagh Buckley moderated a panel discussion titled ‘Electrified energy systems: Innovation powering our grid; A resilient, fair, affordable energy system’.
A native of Cork City, Oonagh’s grandfathers, Timothy Buckley and Tomás Ryle both engineers were involved in the construction of the Shannon Scheme from October 1925 until July 1929. Timothy a civil engineer from Cork worked on the road and ramps while Kerry native Tomás an electrical engineer worked on the generators, ironically both men never met while working as sub-contractors for Siemens Schukert.
She revealed her connections during the beginning of the conference, “to be a young man working here would have been incredibly exciting”. She said any infrastructural project in the modern world “is “really important that we design it right and that it works for every country in the world”.
Founder and Executive Chair of Trifecta Energy CLG, Lesley O’Connor referred to Ireland being a wealthy country yet one which experiences fuel poverty, “households experience a choice between food and fuel”. She stated, “We need to be clear on where we are today, our electricity prices are among the highest in Europe which is two to three times higher than Asia and the USA. We have to lean into the affordability thing, energy is really complex, there is no silver bullet, everyone wants one but it doesn’t exist. We need to be clear, up front, honest and transparent to our public, we have a pathway but we build a system. We’re not going to solve everything tomorrow”.
CEO of EirGrid, Cathal Marlay outlined, “our grid has to completely transform which is a massive challenge. It requires big investment which is a big challenge”. Scaling up is essential but requires working closely and communicating with customers.
Signs across South-East Clare objecting to wind turbines were referenced by the Secretary General. “There was acceptance to Ardnacrusha and people saw the good it would bring.. You all passed on your way here signs up saying no wind turbines, it is a very different narrative on electrification. We are now seeing a very strong pushback against slogans or previous pitches, net zero is now a political culture war and a real problem”.
Responding to this, Marley commented, “All politics is local, what people need to see and one of the biggest challenges is big infrastructure and their impact on landscape, the national broadband impact was evident quickly and people loved, people saw straight away the benefits”.
Referencing another contentious plan affecting the people of Clare, namely the 170km pipeline from the River Shannon to Dublin, he stated, “there are no benefits in their own area like bringing the water from the Shannon to Dublin”. He stressed, “for the biggest projects you have to give benefits to the local areas, people ask why are we putting this infrastructure in our landscape if we’re not seeing impact”. He maintained success will be achieved by demonstrating local benefits and a national campaign.
Other panellists voiced the need for people to see an impact in their pockets which will lead them to question if it makes sense and deliver savings while also providing local employment opportunities.
Jane Cohen of the International Energy Agency (IEA) outlined, “This is at the heart of how we move this forward”. She said, “All of the work we’re doing is about people’s lives, if they don’t feel it or if it is lost in technical jargon then it won’t move forward. It needs to be more than a news slogan, it is hard to scale, it is like it is a side project rather than the basis of the programme”.
