As we live through an era of polycrisis this book sets out how electricity can get the world off fossil fuels and accelerate to a zero-carbon economy. The essential element in this transformation is a supergrid to transmit vast amounts of cost-competitive, regionally produced power quickly to where it’s most needed.
Supergrid – Super Solution outlines:
- The masterplan by a global leader in developing renewable energy with input from leading energy experts.
- The creation of an energy revolution using superconductor cables to deliver electricity from offshore wind and solar to areas of peak demand at the heart of Europe through rollout of the supergrid – by deploying already proven technology.
- The opportunity for Ireland and other peripheral coastal communities to be regenerated as major exporters of green power.
- The need for courage and collective action by states, the private sector and the public to work together in the best interests of humanity and planet Earth.
‘Read it. Heed the call to action. Call upon your politicians, policymakers, influencers and investors to make real a European supergrid supporting the energy of the future.’
Climate futurist, strategist and author Michael Barnard
‘This is the peace project of our time. We will never fight over renewable power. Its ubiquity overcomes the disadvantages of variability, and we need to deliver the supergrid – not just for Europe.’
Irish Minister for Climate and Energy and 2024 Co-chair of International Energy Agency Eamon Ryan
‘A European supergrid capable of linking solar power from the south to wind in the north is the only ultimate way to go over the next number of decades. Many countries are taken by that particular idea and are no longer intimidated by the challenges it once might have represented. It will need a lot of advocacy at European level – and persistence.’
Former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Micheál Martin
‘This is a hopeful and exciting volume – the climate crisis should make us rethink many things, including how we connect up entire continents for joint action. None of this is easy, but some of it is simple – and utterly necessary.’
Environmentalist Bill McKibben
‘Energy transition is seen as a complicated endeavour. Supergrid simplifies it a lot. This book marries aspiration of clean energy and hard facts.’
Former European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs
‘Nature-based renewable electricity generation, using wind and solar, will predominate in the shift from fossil fuels. The core message of this book is that harnessing their complementarities and optimising their potential will need new joined-up transmission systems and new joined-up policy thinking. The Supergrid is a fit-for-the-future, actionable vision of what could be by engineer Eddie O’Connor, who believes in what he does and does what he believes in: saving humanity from avoidable climate disasters.’
Former European Parliament President Pat Cox
Dr. Eddie O’Connor was a world-renowned entrepreneur and leader in renewable energy development. Until his death in January 2024, he was executive chairman of SuperNode, the company he founded in 2017. He pioneered the concept of the Supergrid in response to the challenge of decarbonising electricity generation in Europe and formulated the initial proposals for it in 2001. SuperNode is a cutting-edge technology development company based in Ireland that designs and delivers superconductor connection systems to connect renewable generation and increase grid interconnection.
He became executive chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power in September 2017, following nine years as chief executive of the company, which he founded in 2008. O’Connor worked for the ESB, prior to becoming CEO of Bord na Móna – and built Ireland’s first commercial wind farm in 1992 while at the helm. He founded Airtricity in 1998, which was sold in 2008 to E.ON and Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) for €1.8 billion.
In 2003, he was named World Energy Policy Leader by ScientificAmerican, and Oilprice.com cited him as one of the five most influential figures in the US clean energy sector. In 2009, he was the first ever winner of the leader- ship award at the annual Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards.
In 2013, he received the wind energy sector’s most prestigious award, the Poul La Cour Prize, from trade association WindEurope, where he served as a member of the Executive Committee for many years. In May 2016, he was appointed as the Global Wind Energy Council’s new Global Ambassador. O’Connor holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and a Masters in Industrial Engineering from University College Dublin (UCD), and has a doctorate in Business Administration from the International Management Centres, Europe. He has received honorary doctorates from UCD, Maynooth University and the University of Hull in recognition of his contributions to business and science.
Kevin O’Sullivan is Environment & Science Editor and former Editor of The IrishTimes. He specialises in the coverage of climate change; biodiversity, renewable energy and sustainability for the newspaper and irishtimes.com. He is a science graduate of University College Dublin and has a post-graduate degree in journalism from Dublin City University.
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