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Renewable Energy
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Page 7 of 7
What Ireland therefore needs is a smart metering system that encourages consumers to find uses for electricity when a strong wind is blowing and its price falls really low. If Eamon Ryan responded to the electricity suppliers' demands by pushing ahead with the installation of smart meters that didn't make it easy for consumers to take advantage of very low power prices whenever they occurred, he would be making a big mistake. His rush for results would inhibit the development of, amongst other things, wind farms, domestic heat storage systems such as heat pumps combined with underfloor heating, and the use of electric cars.
The Minister has assured ConstructIreland that he has no intention of making this mistake, even though sufficiently advanced smart meters may not be in production yet. “We're pushing the boundaries here” he said, “but I do want it to be possible for 100,000 fridge-freezers to be turned off at 5.30 each evening.”
The unresolved question, though, is who will turn them off. Will it be 100,000 electricity customers who have individually set their smart meters to do so whenever a particular power-price kicks in? Or will it be the electricity supply companies who will send the cut-off signal to their customers' meters?
The uncertainty exists because it has still not been decided whether the price to be paid by domestic electricity customers should vary by the half hour or whether those customers who agree to allow their electricity suppliers to turn their appliances on and off remotely should pay a lower flat price for all their power than those who don't. This decision about who is to be in control is absolutely crucial. It would be a massive mistake if flat power prices were to stay.
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Richard Douthwaite |
| About the author: |
| Richard Douthwaite is an economist and writer with a special interest in climate and energy issues and local economic development.
He is a co-founder of Feasta, the Foundation for the Economis of Sustainability, the Dublin-based international network of people who believe that the world's sustainability problems are due to the use of dysfunctional systems and are trying to develop better ones. He is co-editor of the Feasta Review, which carries cutting-edge thinking on sustainability issues. He led a recently-completed research project which was commissioned from Feasta by the Irish Government’s Environmental Protection Agency into the effects that very much higher energy prices might have on the various sectors of Irish life..
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