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@CArchibald_SF @DianeDoddsMLA @paulfrewDUP @NicholaMallon @roybeggs @AndrewMuirNI @TVconormac @SJAMcBride These are the annual percentages of available wind energy in NI that has been curtailed/constrained - or more simply put, dumped - since 2016.
That 17.5% dumped in the first six months of 2020 = 295 MWh, retail value to domestic consumers = £53 million - of locally generated clean energy. Because we threw that away, we had to import an equivalent amount of polluting fossil fuel. So we paid twice.
Also in the first six months of this year, we locked ourselves in to decades of dependency on imported fossil fuel for heat; http://www.gastothewest.com/download/'Gas%20to%20the%20West'%20major%20milestone%20event%20-%20press%20release%2016%20January%202020.pdf
We're so keen on imported fossil fuel that we're going to store it; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51399028
And use it to generate power; http://www.irishnews.com/paywall/tsb/irishnews/irishnews/irishnews//business/2020/03/04/news/czech-energy-group-launches-tender-process-for-96m-gas-upgrade-at-kilroot-and-ballylumford-power-stations-1857667/content.html
Natural gas is not green. Lobbyists are scrupulously careful to talk about its lower carbon emissions than oil and coal, but methane is a much more potent ghg than carbon dioxide; https://www.carbonbrief.org/scientists-concerned-by-record-high-global-methane-emissions
Even if you don't think there's a climate crisis, the decades long payback for fossil infrastructure is hugely risky for consumers. https://rmi.org/a-bridge-backward-the-risky-economics-of-new-natural-gas-infrastructure-in-the-united-states/
Risks are particularly high for vulnerable consumers; "Getting off gas will not be easy, and it will be harder still for low-income households". These are exactly the challenges UU is addressing in our RULET project. https://foresightdk.com/getting-off-gas-future-risks-for-energy-poor-households/
The alternative to imported, polluting fossil fuel for heat and power? Invest TODAY in proven and costed solutions - energy efficiency, heat pumps, district heating and electrification of transport. Even Centrica, parent company of British Gas says so;
Not to mention m'learned colleague @IVorushylo https://d2e1qxpsswcpgz.cloudfront.net/uploads/2020/07/Final_Report_UU_Zero_in_on_NI_heat-2.pdf
We urgently need a solution to wasted wind. The eventual role and costs of hydrogen - the favoured solution of the fossil fuel lobby - is still uncertain; https://theconversation.com/amp/hydrogen-isnt-the-key-to-britains-green-recovery-heres-why-143059?utm_medium=amptwitter&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
The tragedy of this is that after decades when NI's economy was disadvantaged by the lack of our own energy resources, Stormont can't see the opportunities staring it in the face TODAY.
Every day spent waiting for hydrogen = another day's worth of clean local wind energy wasted. Every pound spent on imported fossil fuel = a pound not spent on green jobs here.
