Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2014
20. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide a report on the current status of negotiations regarding the Codling Wind Park and plans to connect directly to the energy grid of the United Kingdom. [47117/14]
View answerIreland's energy policy seeks to facilitate the harnessing of our abundant, indigenous, clean energy resources, including offshore renewable energy, and the economic benefits of any such development whilst also protecting our environment. The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP), published in February 2014, provides the mechanism through which action across Government Departments and Agencies to support the development of offshore renewable electricity generation can be fully coordinated. Actions in areas such as environmental monitoring and protection, research and development, consenting procedures, infrastructure requirements and enterprise development, are contained in the OREDP.
With regard to the proposed Codling Wind Park, which is the subject of a 2005 foreshore lease, securing a grid connection for the project is ultimately a matter for the project developers and the relevant statutory bodies. Furthermore, the OREDP identifies export as the route to market for offshore wind.
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Cooperation with the UK Government in January 2013, a joint programme of work was undertaken to consider how Irish renewable energy resources, onshore and offshore, might be developed to the mutual benefit of both Ireland and the UK.
Economic analysis clearly indicates that, under agreed policy and regulatory conditions, renewable energy trading could deliver significant economic benefits to Ireland and the UK, as well as being attractive to developers. However, given the economic, policy and regulatory complexities involved, and some key decisions that the UK are not yet in a position to take, delivery by 2020 of renewable energy trading will not be possible. In the context of a European Internal Energy Market, it would appear that greater trade in energy between Britain and Ireland is likely in the post-2020 scenario.
