Technical Overview
Ireland has some the very best wind resources in Europe - an enormous natural asset with revenue potential of tens of billions of euros per year. Wind is a wonderful source of natural, emissions free power. However, it is also extremely volatile (messy). It is difficult to predict, intermittent, variable in strength, often there when not required and not there when required. It creates instabilities in the power network and is very difficult for network operators to dispatch (switch in and out as demand changes).

The solution to date of compensating for the difficulties that wind energy creates, is to have polluting, gas burning stations on standby to replace the wind when it stops. This is expensive, particularly the open cycle gas turbine plant used for peak load and also means that we increase emissions and worsen our dependency on imported gas. It is not a solution to our problems.

Our power network grew organically from the early days of the Irish state. It was intended as a distribution system (not an energy collection system), is strained in locations most suited to Natural Energy and not robust for collection. The addition of wind farms scattered around the country in locations where there is much wind and little wiring has greatly exacerbated the problems. Equally, placing wind turbines in poor wind locations just because there are wires available make no sense. The simple fact is that Ireland does not have what would internationally be recognised as a backbone Very High Voltage Grid of an industrialised country such as the UK or France. Because of this, parties seeking to develop wind farms of any scale have been frustrated to the point where many projects were rendered unfeasible – often after years of work and enormous expense.

To help address some of the wind intermittency issues, it has been proposed that Ireland build interconnectors to import power when our wind stops blowing. This is a patently bad idea for a country which has massive energy resources, which should be exploited for energy export. The present approach will never get Ireland to energy independence. We will never export power in sufficient quantity to solve our long term economic problems. There is a straightforward solution, which can be started now.

The Solution 
Ireland has wonderful advantages of geography. We have some of the very best Natural Energy resources in Europe. Every day and every night, truly extraordinary wealth in terms of wind energy blows across our land. Our place on the corner of Europe tipping into the huge Atlantic Ocean ensures that we have been blessed with an endless supply of Natural Energy on a massive scale and of truly enormous potential - tens of billions of euros per year.

Wind our uneven energy resource.
Wind is a wonderful source of Natural, emissions free energy. However, it also has significant drawbacks. It is difficult to predict, intermittent, variable in strength, often there when not required and not there when required. It creates instabilities in the power network and is very difficult for network operators to dispatch (switch in and out as demand changes). In short, wind is limited in terms of strategic and economic value unless its energy is made stable and fully commercially usable. We can only switch to Natural Energy and export valuable power when we make it completely reliable and available on demand.

The Solution - Harnessing the Wind
To make wind usable on a large scale, it must be stabilised and become immediately available when required. The way to do this is to have a cost-effective means of storing its energy. There is a solution. By building largeHydro Storage Reservoirs, we can store Natural Energy from the wind.

We have natural gifts of geology as well as geography. Over the past year a team of internationally experienced Engineers, Academics, Architects, Geologists, Construction, Consultants, Legal and Finance professionals have been working intensively on initial design and costing of Hydro Storage Reservoirs and the power networks necessary to connect these to the National Grid.

Energy Independence is within our reach
When completed over the next five years, like the Shannon hydro plant at Ardnacrusha and rural electrification, this project will transform Ireland. The combination of Wind Farms and Hydro Storage Reservoirs will end our dependence on imported oil, gas and coal for power generation. We will be saving billions of euros every year which we need for our hospitals, schools and pensions. Our economy and environment will be renewed.

Earning through Natural Energy Export
Through large power interconnectors to Europe, Ireland can provide valuable, much needed Natural Energy to our European partners. We can help secure European energy supplies and cut its greenhouse emissions.

Jobs, Businesses, the Economy and our Bright Future
This is a huge infrastructure project - €10 billions plus, which will pay for itself, stimulate the economy, create tens of thousand of jobs, save many businesses, start many more and generate a huge new economic sector for our country –Natural Energy, Products and Services. It will end our exposure to global energy costs and make us energy competitive and independent and will attract flows of investment capital. It will provide opportunities for training, skills development and research.

Building a Secure Future and a Better Environment
As part of building Ireland's secure future we will have to construct Hydro Storage Reservoirs, wind farms in suitable locations and place the cabling needed to connect Ireland’s new Natural Energy to our homes and businesses. Every effort will be made using our best architects and biologists to ensure this is done in an ecologically and architecturally sensitive manner. We have to be prepared to accept this if we are to have a secure future and a better global environment.

Irish National Press Coverage
Frank McDonald, Environment Editor of The Irish Times writes:

Plans to build a new electricity generating system, combining large-scale wind farms with huge hydro-power storage reservoirs in valleys on the west coast of Ireland are at an advanced stage. “Spirit of Ireland”, billed as a national project for energy independence, has been under discussion for several months with the Irish Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, as well as other agencies.

It would involve identifying up to five coastal valleys from counties Donegal to Cork, building dams on their seaward side and flooding them with sea water. These would provide a hydro-power back-up for the wind farms. Typically, wind farms only produce 25 to 35% of their maximum possible electricity output. The proposed hydro-generating stations would come into play when wind speeds were either too low or too high to be useful.

“There is tremendous political goodwill right across the board,” according to Dr Graham O’Donnell, the electrical engineer and entrepreneur who is co-ordinating work on the project by up to 150 professionals – all volunteers. “Nobody is playing politics with it, because everyone can see the advantage of the project,” he said. “The first power station we envisage would supply a quarter of the electricity Ireland needs and we could also be exporting to the UK. “To meet our national electricity requirements, we would need two hydro-storage reservoirs with a size of around 4km by 4km.

“Constructing a further three plants would earn very large incomes from export of natural energy. “It’s an enormous project, a very exciting project for the country, and it’s making extremely strong progress. We look forward to concluding our discussions with the Government [principally Minister Eamon Ryan] within the next few weeks,” he said.

A final report, including likely locations and detailed costings, is now being compiled for presentation to Mr Ryan and his department. “Everyone is aware of the project, including the Taoiseach [Prime Minister], but there is a process to go through,” Dr O’Donnell explained. 50 potential sites along the west coast were identified, but he said many of these were not suitable for environmental or geological reasons. “We’ve now reduced the number of sites to 10, of which five will be studied in micro-detail,” he added.

The bowl-shaped valleys, created during the Ice Age, are located in areas with some of the best wind conditions in Ireland. “Many are in areas of low population density, where land is of marginal or no use for farming,”the project’s website says. It notes that a successful plant similar to the project being planned here has been in operation on the Japanese island of Okinawa for more than 10 years – “built in more difficult terrain than the glacial valleys on Ireland’s west coast”.

Dr O’Donnell said he was not in a position at this stage to reveal which were the most likely locations. “There’s an enormous amount of geological investigation and mapping involved, and we have a total of 18 teams of people working on the project.” There was also “serious interest” in the project among financial institutions abroad. “It’s an ideal vehicle for attracting foreign direct investment into Ireland, and it would create thousands of jobs.”

Other selling points are that it would achieve energy independence in five years, save €30 billion on the import of fossil fuels, slash carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation and “create the potential to add €50 billion to our economy”. This would arise from the value of the project itself and its potential to export electricity to Britain. Such is the scale of “Spirit of Ireland” that several interconnectors would be needed to supplement the one now under construction.

The Project Team The volunteers who began work on the project are a group of professional people who share similar aspirations of a secure prosperous Ireland - for today and for future generations. Founding members included Graham O'Donnell, an Electrical and Electronics Engineer with over 20 years experience of international power networks, and Prof Igor Shvets, an Electrical Engineer one of Ireland's leading physicists based in Trinity College Dublin. He holds over 50 patents and has 15+ Masters and PhD colleagues in his research group. He precipitated foundation of the Spirit of Ireland project after noticing many of the natural geographic features in Ireland that make it possible.