An Irish engineer Kev Collins delivers this short documentary on the governmental root causes to the current energy price problem. “Behind every bad decision is yet another bad decision”.
It is the most concise, cogent and intelligent treatment and review of the issue I have seen to date.
While it concerns the energy price issues peculiar to Ireland, there are common themes e.g. Datacentres, Windfarms, Environmental policy following values(ideology) as opposed to security and practicality.
Behind the decades of ridiculous decisionmaking above is a deeper root cause, and in my view a related one, it is the government wants an overarching controlling “God button” approach which is driven by EU diktat compounded by a century long failure to grow to develop and learn their way out of their post colonial mindset bringing bad decision making and indeed corruption. Both of which have become increasingly more evident in recent decades but bringing deeper, pernicious and strategic economic impacts.
Please learn from our mistakes world!
Documentary summary:
A critical analysis of Ireland’s energy strategy, arguing that systemic failures, poor planning, and a “post-colonial” approach to resources have driven up costs, divided communities, and created dependency without delivering affordable, secure power. Energy is framed as the “master commodity” that underpins everything else, with Ireland’s high bills (already among Europe’s highest) and €100+ million in curtailment payments to wind producers as evidence of dysfunction.
The core thesis: government “kicks the can down the road” instead of fixing broken systems.
1. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
- Public funds are rapidly deploying hundreds of MW of container-sized batteries as a grid stabilizer for intermittent wind/solar.
- They provide only 3–4 hours of buffer; gas still supplies ~50% of electricity.
- Regulatory vacuum: No core safeguards by 2024 (despite promises); building regs, fire safety, and waste rules don’t apply. No notifying authority, market surveillance, or certifying body.
- FOI evidence shows no environmental licensing or EPA oversight required.
- Real-world risks: Claregalway fire (2024) evacuated 1,700 people, hospitalized firefighters long-term; no EPA monitoring. Parallels Moss Landing (California) fire with toxic metal release.
- Public funding (RESS, SEAI) continues despite breaching EU state-aid rules (must be conditional/proportionate).
2. Gas Supply and Storage Failures
- Domestic Corrib field depleting before 2030 → reliance on imported LNG (mostly fracked US gas from Philadelphia).
- Irony: Ireland banned fracking in 2017 but now imports it at 2–4× pipeline gas cost; boil-off requires constant turnover.
- 2017 decommissioning of Kinsale Head storage (Ireland’s only facility, once held 50 days’ supply) forced “just-in-time” model with zero margin for disruption.
- Result: vulnerability exposed by events like Baltic pipeline sabotage; speaker hopes for US LNG deal but highlights expense and shortsightedness.
3. Wind Power Problems and Curtailment
- Installed capacity rising, but actual delivered energy flat → more frequent curtailment (paying wind farms for power the grid can’t use).
- Costs passed to consumers via PSO levy and network charges.
- No mandatory setbacks: Unlike France (500m minimum) or Germany/Austria (up to 1km+), Ireland has none. New turbines up to 180m (vs. old 50–70m) cause infrasound/low-frequency vibration concerns (health impacts debated; research early).
- 2006 planning guidelines outdated (known since 2013); no Strategic Environmental Assessment per 2004 EU SEA Directive → potential EU law breach.
- Community division: planning fights pit locals against the state (taxpayers fund defense of multinational developers like EDF/France’s RSB).
4. Planning System Failures and Fast-Tracking
- Broken planning process leads government to seek “god button” powers (e.g., Minister O’Brien’s failed direct control over LNG terminal; new bills limit local input and shield projects from climate challenges).
- Disputes framed as communities vs. state, not vs. developers.
- Rural opposition to wind/solar framed as anxiety over scale, lack of consultation/transparency, and outdated rules.
5. Solar Farms and Land-Use Industrialization
- Large-scale projects (e.g., Belleville: ~1,000 acres farmland) with minimal consultation.
- Converts productive farmland into long-term industrial assets (25–40 year lifespan); reversible but reduces food production without local benefits.
- Paired with unregulated batteries; propaganda-style TV normalization criticized.
6. Resource Extraction and "Post-Colonial Ecological Regime"
- Pattern: Ireland offers land, labor, energy, and infrastructure to global capital (pharma, data centers, renewables) in exchange for FDI, while locals bear costs.
- Lithium prospecting (28% of land under licenses; Chinese firm Ganfeng in Wicklow/Moira) → potential open-pit mining; legacy of old Avoca mines shows permanent acid/metal pollution, sterile land, river damage.
- Profits exported; disruption local. No royalties/state equity model seen elsewhere.
7. Offshore Wind, Data Centers, and Who Benefits
- 37 GW offshore wind target by 2050 (6× current peak demand) → surplus intended for export/Europe, not domestic use.
- Data centers already use 21% of electricity (projected 31% soon); driving demand for wind, solar, batteries, lithium, and even Shannon water pipeline.
- Tech giants (Microsoft, Google, Amazon) building own nuclear (SMRs, restarting reactors) rather than rely on national grid.
- Historical parallels: 1980s offshore giveaway (Ray Burke scandal); Barryroe oil field (hundreds of millions of barrels) stalled by state inaction.
- Strategy prioritizes emissions reduction over price, security, and delivery (per Irish Academy of Engineering critique). Undermines UN SDGs by sacrificing reliable energy.
8. Broader Policy Critique and Call to Action
- Energy policy serves global digital infrastructure (“Ireland as Europe’s back-end server”) rather than Irish society.
- Abandoned nuclear plans (Carnsure Point, 1970s) and peat stations exemplify reactive ideology over assets.
- Contrast with Norway/UK: they tax/explore domestic resources to fund transition while maintaining security.
Solutions:
- Reissue oil/gas exploration licenses (lower-carbon domestic supply).
- Update battery/wind rules to comply with EU law.
- Shift to citizen profit-partners: state ownership, royalties, local benefits, sovereign wealth.
- Fix planning system instead of bypassing it.
- Closing: Energy = societal agency. Stable, affordable, sovereign power enables deliberate progress (infrastructure, restoration, public systems). Ireland must stop reacting and build for itself.