Spink An Spinc | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Spink Bar on the R430 regional road | |
  Spink Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates: 52°54′N7°14′W / 52.900°N 7.233°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Laois |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-1 (IST (WEST)) |
Spink (Irish : An Spinc, meaning 'the pointed rock') [1] is a small village in County Laois, Ireland. It is situated near the Kilkenny border on the R430 regional road.
Spink GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club.
Residents from Spink are members of the prominent protest group, "Ratheniska, Timahoe, Spink (RTS) Substation Action Group" who have prevented the Electricity Supply Board from developing the power station in Coolnabacca, Ratheniska in a campaign that has been ongoing since 2009. In 2021, the ESB and the community group "hardened positions", and the ESB advised that if an offer of mediation from ESB and EirGrid, ″is not accepted by 27 August 2021, ESB and EirGrid will have no option but to consider its legal remedies against the Group.″ The group are concerned that the power station will be used to source power for all over the midlands and will have a significant impact on the local area. [2]
The Electricity Supply Board is a state owned electricity company based in Ireland with operations worldwide. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a "liberalised" and competitive market. It is a statutory corporation whose members are appointed by the government of Ireland.
Northern Ireland Electricity Networks Limited (NIE Networks) is the electricity asset owner of the transmission and distribution infrastructure in Northern Ireland, established in 1993 when the business was privatised. NIE Networks does not generate or supply electricity. Since 2010 it has been a subsidiary of ESB Group.
Eamon Michael Ryan is an Irish former Green Party politician who has served as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport since June 2020, and was Leader of the Green Party from May 2011 to June 2024. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency from 2016 to 2024, and previously from 2002 to 2011 for the Dublin South constituency. He previously served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2007 to 2011. On 18 June 2024, he announced that he was stepping down as leader of the Green Party. He retired from politics after the 2024 general election.
The East–West Interconnector is a 500 MW high-voltage direct current submarine and subsoil power cable from 2012 which connects the Irish and British electricity markets, between Dublin and the Wales/England border. The project was developed by the Irish national grid operator EirGrid.
The Heath GAA is a Gaelic football, ladies' Gaelic football and rounders club in County Laois, Ireland, located to the northeast of Portlaoise.
EirGrid plc is the state-owned electric power transmission operator in Ireland. It is a public limited company registered under the Companies Acts; its shares are held by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is one of a number of Irish state-sponsored bodies and is regulated by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.
Timahoe GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in the village of Timahoe, County Laois, Ireland.
Park–Ratheniska GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association gaelic football and hurling club in County Laois, Ireland.
Ballyfin GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association hurling and gaelic football club located in the village of Ballyfin in County Laois, Ireland.The club colours are green and white. The club grounds are at Cappinrush, beside Ballyfin's Roman Catholic church.
The Laois Junior Football Championships are the lower-tier Laois Club Football Championships.
Coolkeeragh power station is a power station near Derry in Northern Ireland.
Moneypoint power station is Ireland's largest electricity generation station and its only coal-fired power station. Commissioned between 1985 and 1987, it is located on the River Shannon, near Kilrush in County Clare, and was constructed at a cost of more than £700m. The station operates largely on coal, making it both unique in the context of Irish electricity production and for a while was the country's single largest emitter of greenhouse gases. At its peak, it was capable of meeting around 25% of customer demand across the country. But by 2023, coal's share of the electricity fuel mix in Ireland had fallen to 4%.
The electricity sectors of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are integrated and supply 2.5 million customers from a combination of coal, peat, natural gas, wind and hydropower. In 2022, 34 TWh were generated. In 2018 natural gas produced 51.8%, while wind turbines generated 28.1%, coal 7%, and peat 6.8% of Ireland's average electricity demand. In 2020 wind turbines generated 36.3% of Ireland's electrical demand, one of the highest wind power proportions in the world. While the United Kingdom was one of the first countries in the world to deploy commercial nuclear power plants, the island of Ireland has never had a nuclear power plant built on either side of the Irish border. Nuclear power in Ireland was discussed in the 1960s and 1970s but ultimately never phased in, with legislation now in place explicitly forbidding its introduction.
Bellacorick or Bellacoric is a townland in County Mayo in Ireland. It is in the Electoral Division of Glenco, in Civil Parish of Kilcommon, in the Barony of Erris, in the County of Mayo. Bellacorick has an area of: 2,789,440 m2 / 278.94 hectares / 2.7894 km2. Bellacorick borders the following other townlands: Killsallagh to the west; Moneynierin to the east; Muingaghel to the south; Srahnakilly to the north.
The West Offaly Power Station was a large peat-fired 135 MW power station in Shannonbridge from 2005 to 2020, in the Republic of Ireland. The station was capable of generating up to 153 MWe of power, thus ranking as the largest peat-fired power station in the country. The power station was constructed adjacent to the ageing 125 MWe peat Shannonbridge Power Station, which operated in stages from 1965 to 2003, and demolished in 2005.
Ireland is a net energy importer. Ireland's import dependency decreased to 85% in 2014. The cost of all energy imports to Ireland was approximately €5.7 billion, down from €6.5 billion (revised) in 2013 due mainly to falling oil and, to a lesser extent, gas import prices. Consumption of all fuels fell in 2014 with the exception of peat, renewables and non-renewable wastes.
Under the original 2009 Renewable Energy Directive Ireland had set a target of producing 16% of all its energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020 but that has been updated by a second Renewable Energy Directive whose targets are 32% by 2030. Between 2005 and 2014 the percentage of energy from renewable energy sources grew from just 3.1% to 8.6% of total final consumption. By 2020 the overall renewable energy share was 13.5%, short of its Renewable Energy Drive target of 16%. Renewable electricity accounted for 69% of all renewable energy used in 2020, up from two thirds (66.8%) in 2019.
The Celtic Interconnector is a 700 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine power cable under construction between the southern coast of Ireland and the north-west coast of France. It will be the first such interconnector between the two countries.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, formerly known as the Commission for Energy Regulation, is Ireland's energy and water economic utility regulator.
