Next two years critical for Ireland’s offshore wind energy targets

Pace of Government action must accelerate

The Irish Wind Energy Association warned today that what the Government does over the next two years will decide whether Ireland reaches its 2030 climate action targets.

The organisation this morning published Building Offshore Wind, which shows how the Programme for Government’s target of 5 GW of offshore wind energy can be met. It is the fourth in a series of reports which set out Ireland’s pathway to a 70 per cent renewable electricity system.

Dr David Connolly, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association, said: “If a project does not have planning permission by the end of 2025 it will not be built by the end of the decade. It is as simple as that, which means today, we are on course to fail unless immediate action is taken.

“We have the pipeline to deliver our 2030 target with more than 16 GW of offshore projects at some stage of development off the coast of Ireland. But we do not have a planning regime for offshore wind, there is no system for projects to connect to the electricity grid and no way for them to sell their power on the market.

“Already, wind energy is delivering more CO₂ savings than every other form of renewable energy combined. With 5 GW of offshore wind energy we can make this Government’s vision a reality and cut carbon emissions in the electricity sector by more than 7 per cent annually. But it cannot, and it will not, happen unless the problems we have identified are resolved.”

In Building Offshore Wind IWEA makes eight recommendations to Government Ministers Daragh O’Brien TD and Eamon Ryan TD that are essential to enable industry to develop the projects in time. Key proposals include:

• Enact the Marine Planning and Development Management (MPDM) Bill – which creates an offshore planning system – by the end of Q1 2021.
• Set clear statutory deadlines for decisions on wind farm planning applications and provide An Bord Pleanála with the staff and additional expertise to process applications promptly;
• Start now to develop the transmission system on the east coast to integrate the power from these offshore wind farms;
• Hold the first offshore wind energy auction as soon as possible in 2021 and plan more to ensure enough new contracts are issued by 2025 to provide 5 GW of power.

Government progress

Some progress is already visible with the MPDM Bill starting its way through the Oireachtas and commitments from Minister Ryan that an offshore auction will take place next year.

Dr Connolly said: “We need to acknowledge there has been a substantial increase in the time, energy and resources the Government is putting into the development of offshore wind energy. No one could deny they are taking this seriously and moving forward.

“But the scale of what we are being asked to accomplish is unlike anything ever done in Ireland before. Building 5 GW of offshore wind energy in ten years – creating an entirely new industry from next to nothing – requires urgent, rapid and coordinated policy development.

“It needs to include a wide range of Government departments, State agencies and other key stakeholders, particularly coastal and fishing communities.

“We need to acknowledge the progress this Government is making while also being clear that we need to accelerate.”

Grid the biggest barrier

The single biggest barrier to the development of offshore wind energy is Ireland’s electricity transmission grid. EirGrid, which operates the grid, estimates that the east coast of Ireland can accommodate 1.5 GW of wind energy yet the Programme for Government ambition is for 5 GW.

Dr Connolly continued: “Our members will not build wind farms to sit idle off our coast. We must get the power to shore. Industry needs to know that EirGrid and ESB Networks will have the resources they need to develop the grid and have the confidence it will be reinforced in time.

“It can take years to build infrastructure to strengthen the transmission grid. This work needs to start immediately if it is to be completed in time to ensure the Ireland of 2030 is one that is powered by renewable energy.”

Background

Building Offshore Wind is the last in a four-part series of reports setting out the policy changes required to ensure Ireland reaches the target set in the Climate Action Plan to source 70 per cent of our electricity from renewable energy by 2030.

The three previous reports were Saving Money, which proposed measures to reduce the cost of renewable electricity,Saving Power, which called for a stronger electricity grid to support the integration of renewables and Building Onshore Wind which showed how the development of onshore wind energy could be accelerated. Together, the four reports make up the 70by30 Implementation Plan.

In 2018 alone, according to the most recent report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, wind energy avoided 3.15 million tonnes of CO₂ and cut our fossil fuel import bill by €432 million.