Val Martin, spokesperson for European Platform Against Windfarms

DEAR SIR: This letter is in response to Kenneth Matthews of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA). Matthews’ article is based on spin and window-dressing.

Demand for electricity is still lower than it was during the boom times in 2008, yet we now have 40% more generating capacity. With a low energy to GDP ratio, Ireland’s recovery will not place a huge burden on the electricity sector.

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Apple recently came to Ireland but Cadbury pulled out in the same week due to the high costs here.

It is an engineering impossibility for Apple to power its centre entirely on renewable energy, unless they use dispatchable sources, such as hydro or biomass, but certainly not wind.

The study he refers to on electricity prices was based on future high fossil fuel prices. But the exact opposite happened.

The price of gas power is now about €55 per MWh compared with wind at €80 per MWh.

You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to work out that fossil fuel power is now cheaper than wind. IWEA needs to stop trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

At least 65% of wind farms in Ireland are owned by UK companies, which equates to at least € 177m going out of the Irish economy in 2013/14. The cost of installing a wind farm in Ireland is roughly €2m/MW. With 2,200MW of installed wind at present, this works out at €3bn in payments out of the Irish economy to Danish and German wind turbine manufacturers.

Import of oil

About €4bn of the €6bn figure referred to is related to the import of oil, rarely used in electricity generation and completely unaffected by wind generation.

If no further back-up is required for wind, then why is Eirgrid offering connection agreements to 200MW of open gas-cycle gas turbines? These gas generators are higher emitting than conventional gas plants, but can act faster when the wind dies down. This will negate any CO2 savings from installing more wind.

I have challenged Matthews to a debate before and I am now inviting him to a debate once again.