Which wind farms will be built first?

06 Sep 2022

With so many new wind energy projects being announced it is only natural that there is some confusion within the fishing industry about how, when or even if all of these projects will actually be built. Justin Moran explains.

What do wind farms mean when they describe themselves as ‘Phase One’ or ‘Phase Two’?

All of the offshore wind energy projects aiming to be completed by the end of 2030 will fall into two groups which are called Phase One and Phase Two.

The Phase One projects hope to apply for planning permission in the first half of 2023 while the Phase Two projects are a bit further behind. Most of them would be thinking about putting in a planning application in 2024.

The Government has recently increased the ambition for 2030 to 7 gigawatts (7,000 megawatts) of wind energy. How many wind farms this will require would depend on the size of each project but it would suggest roughly 10 completed by the end of decade from the two phases combined.

Which projects are Phase One and which are Phase Two?

The Phase One projects are Oriel Wind Farm off the coast of Louth, North Irish Sea Array off the coast of north county Dublin, Dublin Array which is off the coast of Dun Laoghaire and north Wicklow, Codling Wind Park which is off the coast of Wicklow, Arklow Bank which is off the coast of Arklow and Sceirde Rocks off the coast of Galway.

All of these projects applied over the summer for a Maritime Area Consent (MAC) which, if granted, would allow them to use an area of the Irish seabed for an offshore wind farm. It is worth remembering getting a MAC does not guarantee the project will be built.

They will still need to get planning permission from An Bord Pleanála and also compete against each other in an auction to be held next year. Only a project which gets planning permission and, in addition, gets a contract in the auction will be built.

The Phase Two projects have not yet been identified and this is very important for people to understand. The developers themselves do not know which of them will be in Phase Two and which will not. This can make it challenging to keep people informed about the timeline of any specific project.

Most proposed wind farms will want to be identified as Phase Two because this gives them the best chance of being developed by 2030. Earlier this year the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications ran a public consultation to come up with a set of criteria that could be used to identify Phase Two projects but no decision has yet been made.

We are hoping for more information before the end of the year.

What happens to the projects which don’t fall into these two groups?

Right now, this isn’t very clear even for the wind energy industry and it is worth remembering that Government policy on this is still developing.

What we do know is that any project outside of phases one and two is looking at a completion date in the 2030s rather than in this decade. They are significantly further back in the pipeline.

It is possible, even likely, that some of these projects might not go ahead at all if one of the offshore wind farms in the first two phases is built in, or near, the same area where they are looking to develop. There simply might not be room for them anymore.

However, if we are to achieve our overall objective of a fully zero-carbon electricity system we will need to rely on Ireland’s massive offshore wind energy resources and on developing new projects throughout the 2030s and beyond to provide cheap, clean, power to Irish homes, communities and businesses.

How will post-2030 projects be developed?

This is another area where there is still some uncertainty. These projects, sometimes called ‘Phase 3’, will be developed after 2030 under a new system. The Government wants to move Ireland’s approach to offshore wind farm development for this group of projects to what is often called a ‘State-led approach’.

Under this system the Government, or an agency to which they give this responsibility, would identify the locations for offshore wind farms. Developers would then compete against each other in an auction for the chance to build a wind farm in one of the identified locations.

The developer that puts in the highest bid would then be responsible for the construction and operation of the wind farm on the site identified by the State.

In the coming months and years we expect the Government to consult widely with key stakeholders, including Ireland’s fishing community, to see how a ‘State-led approach’ would work in Ireland and put in place the resources in an existing, or potentially completely new, State agency to be responsible for this work.

This article was written by Justin Moran and originally appeared in the Irish Skipper as part of an ongoing series on offshore renewable energy.