END OFFSHORE WIND SUBSIDIES - ESRI - As the climate change summit heads towards its climax, at home the Economic and Social Research Institute has published an economic policy review on sourcing electricity needs from the wind and building and maintaining the transmission network to accommodate this.
Ireland has a 2020 target of achieving 40% of its electricity from renewable sources. One of the report's authors, Professor John FitzGerald, thinks the market will deliver this amount of wind.
If oil and gas prices are medium to high, this will end up saving consumers money, while if they are low, it will cost us 'a bit', Professor FitzGerald says.
He says we need more wires to ensure that the wind power can get to homes and businesses, and also to ensure that it can be exported to countries such as Britain and France. Otherwise, he says, we will have surplus wind which we will not be able to export.
Professor FitzGerald believes the State, through EirGrid, will have to deliver this infrastructure, as it would not be profitable for individual companies to invest in the socially desirable amount of infrastructure needed.
The ESRI says there should not be subsidies for offshore wind and tidal or wave energy, as we would have enough onshore wind energy as we could handle. Professor FitzGerald adds, however, that it is worthwhile spending money on research on areas such as tidal or wave power, but this should be done through research budgets and the costs should not be borne by consumers through guarantees.
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NEWS AND CURRENCIES - The US Federal Reserve is expected to leave a key interest rate near zero and pledge continued support for the US economy when it concludes a two-day meeting this evening.
On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.4535 and 89.41p sterling.
