Batteries in Ireland 2030

I think the same estimates for Battery power storage in Ireland in 2030 are really too low.

I have talked here about how I think SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority Of Ireland) estimates for Solar underestimates how much solar we will add to the grid by 2030. 

The SEAI estimate here that we will have 1GW of battery storage in 2030 and optimistically 1.8GW (1.7GWh and optimistically 5.94GWh in total) p87 here 

This estimate comes from p100 of Eirgrid's Ten Year Generation Capacity Statement 2023–2032 

We seem to be nearly at that lower level of GWh already 'Cornwall Insight’s SEM Benchmark Power Curve sees “significant battery storage growth”, projecting that short-medium term lithium-ion battery storage capacity, up to 4h duration, will reach 13.5GWh by 2030, up from 2.7GWh in 2025.'

To take one current planned battery system Ballynahone Energy Storage Co. Donegal 'The company expects the project, which would take 12 months to build, would be capable of storing 1 gigawatt hour (GWh) of energy while future projects will be capable of storing up to 8GWh' That one project could by 2030 surpass the current optimistic estimates

There are domestic batteries, including in cars, which at least reduce peak consumption but could also be used to directly help the grid. If my predictions of close to zero wholesale prices at sunny of windy times by 2030 there will be good incentives for batteries that store power then. and the 13.5GWh estimate could be low. Nevermind the 1.7GWh one of SEAI.

Adding Solar to Wind Farms

 
I talked in 2022 about how I expected Wind farms in Ireland to have solar added to them. The short version is a bad piece of land with a big electricity cable leaving it that is already selling electricity seems idea to put solar on. 

Because solar is during summer days and the wind mostly winter nights the chances of maximum wind and solar being at any one time is small. And when those windy and sunny times do happen the whole grid will have so much electricity that extra watts will not be valuable. Some wind farms are forested but many are pretty bare hillsides.

Solar panels keep getting cheaper. At the moment they are €0.06/W. To take one example Raheenleagh Wind Farm has a capacity 35.2MW which would cost now just over €2 million in panels. 
Panels are about half the costs of solar farms (planning permission permits etc make up a lot of the rest. Stands a 10%ish chunk. With the inverter and other electrical stuff a fairly small percentage 15%ish).

Combined solar and wind farms make sense in Ireland. It means some infrastructure can be reused and a lot of the work that has already been done for an area. For example this planned hybrid site has 'Grid connection via the existing Richfield Wind Farm 38kV substation;'

Ireland's Solar Electricity in 2030

 

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland have released their National Energy Projections 2024. In this they predict Ireland will have *2.6 more solar electricity generation capacity in 2030. And their optimistic estimate is 3 times more. Ireland has promised to install nearly 4 times more.

It is these peoples jobs to make these projections. and they know far more than I do about electricity generation. But I think they are wrong because of straight line continuing reasons

Below is Ireland's increase in Solar generation since 2017, the first year I can find data for. It increases by more than the 40% annual growth Solar has had world wide for decades

But say we slowed down to this 40% increase rate where would that leave us in 2030? We would have 10 times more solar than now. Not the 3 times SEAI predicts on the optimistic path.

Lots of things could interrupt Ireland's trend but
1. there are lots of planning applications for new solar farms. ' If all were developed, it would add a further 9.5 GW in solar energy to the grid,

surpassing our 2030 target of 8 GW'

2. We have promised to install 8GW of capacity so planning hold ups seem less likely

3. Prices keep dropping, and production keeps increasing. Solar installs in general keep surpassing expectations.

I think the SEAI solar predictions are too low and we are going to have over 10GW of solar installed by 2030. Instead of 2030 to have 5.7GW I think that will be 2 years time, by the end of 2026.

Have Batteries for Ireland's excess wind energy

Ireland regularly produces more energy, from wind, than it needs at night. 95GWh is more than the increase that happens 5-7pm. This means that if we could store the wind energy at night it would significantly help during peak hours of the evening.

How much would this cost? 

"Benchmark Lithium ion Battery Cell prices have fallen to $66.5/kWh in September (Benchmark’s Global Weighted Average); falling just shy of 20% this year". So if we store €60.38 worth of kWh energy that means the battery pays for itself.

At retail prices that is 190 stores and discharges. There is a wholesale retail difference but still six months payback time is so short as to still make it really economical.

Solar already significantly add to the electricity supply which means you might be able to get two discharges on a battery a day. Once in the smaller morning peak using overnight wind power and again in the evening using the days solar.

We have excess wind energy, and next summer solar, so often that grid scale lithium batteries could pay for themselves in months.

Summer 2026 everything gets weird

I think in the summer of 2026 lots of fundamental improvements in human lives will happen

1. Energy. Solar electricity will be plentiful enough that everyone starts to notice prices falling. Batteries will be deployed enough that the effect will extend into peak times.

2. Obesity. The glp-1 drugs go off patent in March 2026. And cheap generic versions will be commonly taken

Generic drugs get cheap fast

Patent expiry date. There could be some shenanigans gets the patent extended. 

I'm predicting 10+% of the population lose 6 kilos during the summer of 2026.

3. Health vaccines. New improved vaccines for TB, Malaria and even cancer should be rolled out enough by then to be visible in lifespan statistics.

4. Self driving cars. These have seemed in the cusp of deployment for a long time. I've been wrong before on when they will be regularly seen. But I'm going to risk being wrong again and claim it's summer 2026.

5. Drones. My local MacDonalds has a drone base behind it. Delivering food orders it seems like a few times a minute. This tech from Manna seems mature enough that it could be common lots of places in a year and a half.

6. Housing. I got nothing here. I can't see the build loads of apartments in a factory and assemble them on site solution being rolled out by then. Hopefully I'm wrong though. 

7. LLMS and AI. The tech is there and getting better but it is still not deployed in a way that really helps people. I think I'm a year and a half ai assistants for office jobs will be regularly used though. 

8.... Any other ideas for things that are about to change or lives a lot?

How will we show off next?

How people show off, or signal status, changes over time. Nowadays eating in famous fancy restaurants and travelling are higher status than in recent times. Whereas knowing about music, books and films seem to be less high status. Probably because anyone with bittorrent can look at any of these media for free. 

One way people signal status is to be slim. GLP-1 inhibitors are going to make this less of a signal soon. these drugs will get cheaper, easier to take and more effective. Meaning that more people will take them and reduce their weight. 

People argue that you should eat healthier instead but it is not an instead situation. People on GLP-1 eat more healthy foods, less junk foods and less alcohol.

Studies show an 11% reduction in overall food shopping spend (and more on alcohol).

What will people move to to signal that they are strong willed and look after themselves if weight is not as much of a signal? I guess clothes.

Clothes fashions have always cycled between casual and formal trends. The pandemic made it ok for adults to wander around in tracksuit bottoms and runners. My guess is that a more formal fashion will come in now where expensive clothes and tailoring is used as a signal as the status signal from weight delines in power.

Solar power in Ireland doubles yearly

When will Ireland have enough solar to power the country? Summer 2026 for small periods and Summer 2027 for most of the days.

Solar output in Ireland nearly doubles every year. The most so far is 700mw the 31st of August 2024 17.2% from grid scale solar systems. The highest in 2023 was 400mw.
August is not an ideal month and more electricity than that would be possible if it was sunnier, possibly about 300mw more. But that is the most we have actually gotten.
Grid scale solar and domestic are about equal. Which means this figure is close to 34% solar at the time.

That doubles summer 2025 to 68%. Summer 2026 to 136% and Summer 2027 to 272% of power at peak. That doubling is optimistic, though a particular June day could be really sunny and beat that. But the growth is still so quick that at some point in 2026 the grid will be getting as much solar as it can take. And most summer days in 2027 will be like that. 

I do not think most Irish people realise this. Our electricity plans are not setup to give us cheap electricity when there is a glut of wind or solar. Irish Smart Meters are not Smart Enough.

Solar only gives about 20-25% of the power in winter months. But that still would be a fair chunk of the grid once solar can supply 100%+ of needs.

So if next summer is sunny we could have 'shock as too much solar for grid' articles are written. And by the summers after solar will be so much that electricity prices should get really cheap.