Dear Rubrick: "This sandbank experiences no winds under 60mph " Have you by any chance overstated the
wind velocity? (what part of the time are such velocities observed?)

Whoops! Sorry about that. If you look at my previous post you'll see that I said it was 60 miles off the coast. I obviously repeated myself in haste. Can't remember what I was trying to say about the speed of the wind but it is mighty out there!


As for tidal power, I have read about some French use of it, but not for a long time
Many years ago there was a proposal to construct tidal dam from Maine to Nova Scotia, but that must have
been a pipedream. Imagine the headaches.Worse than Chinese Three Gorges project.

Actually, tidal power has been tested in Ireland and it works. The biggest problem has been development. Since there was a monopoly on the production of electricity here for the better part of 80 years the ESB has been loathe to embrace it as a viable alternative source of energy. The recent deregulation of monopolies by the European Union means that private companies have been able to develop this area and the tidal and wave power plants are fast becoming a reality. Ireland, as an island nation, would be the perfect place to adopt this.