Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 June 2023
86. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to outline the measures being taken by his Department to facilitate offshore wind energy development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28879/23]
View answerWill the Minister outline the measures taken by his Department to facilitate offshore wind energy development, in particular, floating wind? As part of his response, will he give us an outline of what is happening with regard to ports? That was asked earlier but I do not think the Minister got a chance to respond. The Minister's pronouncements here and elsewhere have a major impact on the confidence of investors who are looking to invest in Ireland. That is a very important point to make.
Significant work has been undertaken over the past two years to develop the regulatory framework to enable the construction and operation of offshore wind farms and associated infrastructure. The national marine planning framework was adopted by the Government in May 2021 and is Ireland’s first marine spatial plan. The Maritime Area Planning, MAP, Act was enacted in December 2021 and established the legislative foundation for the new marine planning system. Under the MAP Act, a new maritime area consent, MAC, regime for offshore wind projects was developed by my Department. I issued the first MACs for seven phase 1 offshore projects in December last year. In addition, the new maritime area regulatory authority, MARA, will be established in July to assess planning applications for offshore development. MARA will have sole authority for granting further MACs for all future marine infrastructure required to deploy offshore wind energy.
Yesterday, EirGrid announced the final results of the first offshore wind auction, offshore renewable energy support scheme, ORESS 1, which will deliver more than 3 GW of offshore wind energy as a cheap, sustainable and secure indigenous alternative to imported fossil fuels. The successful phase 1 projects with MACs will progress through the planning system. After securing planning permission from An Bord Pleanála, the developers will commence offshore wind farm construction and deployment, which will become operational in the latter part of this decade. Further progress across all elements required to accelerate delivery of a sustainable offshore wind energy sector is being driven by my Department under the offshore wind delivery task force.
I will reference some specific examples of that. This task force is pulling all the various elements together. One of the key areas is the deployment and delivery of wind turbines at ports in addition to the industrial development opportunity that will arise. I was very pleased to visit the Port of Cork recently to see its incredible new facility. There is a very large container port system in Ringaskiddy and it, along with other locations in Cork and elsewhere, is a development where we could further enhance port infrastructure and have the necessary place for deployment of the wind industry. I was very encouraged by my visit to the Port of Cork, which is well placed to deliver on that, as well as other locations in Cork and elsewhere. It gives me confidence that we can get this built in time and, in that way, further enhance investor and public confidence in what we are doing.
Can the designated marine area maps, DMAPs, for phase 3 be run in parallel with those for phase 2 and, if not, why not? Will the Minister confirm whether any human resources have been dedicated to progressing phase 3 at this time? Those are two clear questions. Is there a specific workstream for phase 3 within the offshore wind task force? What about wet storage, which is the storing of unfinished turbines before assembly, or a finished turbine, before they are moved to the wind farm site? Will the Minister outline plans for that? Will he confirm whether floating offshore wind off County Cork and Shannon will be prioritised and how?
We will publish the DMAP for phase 2 this summer and move towards delivering the parameters of the auction by the end of this year. The auction will start early next year. There is likely to be a second phase 2 to make sure we meet the full 2030 targets. At the same time, and there will be no real delay, the next iteration after that will be the move towards the enduring regime and future framework. Our Department is working flat out on that.
To answer the Deputy's question, we see the development of floating offshore as a significant part of the opportunity for Ireland. I recently attended a major global offshore floating wind energy conference in Nantes. I had the great pleasure of meeting many of those working in the industry, including developers and companies involved in that. It is starting to scale up in other jurisdictions. It will have a critical role in Ireland because, as we go into the deeper waters, especially further west and in the north west and south west, we will be going beyond the depths at which fixed-bottom offshore can be done. That will be a critical part of the future.
I am tight on time. None of the issues related to wet storage are technical. Much of that will be answered in the Shannon Estuary task force plan that is due. We will work with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, on a similar approach for the Port of Cork, where we will look at it on a very strategic basis.
I thank the Minister for his response, which will be noted by many investors who are really looking to Ireland and want confidence on this matter. With that in mind, does the Minister accept the need for greater engagement between the Government and industry? How will the offshore wind task force facilitate input from industry, specifically on floating offshore wind? The Minister might come back to me on plans for wet storage. It is very important that be clarified because a lot of work is to be done in that regard. We need to get all these parts in line. The Minister mentioned the offshore grid and EirGrid being given responsibility for it. Will private industry have any role in that?
To go further into the issue of wet storage, the Deputy will be aware that Shannon Foynes Port Company commissioned a report by the Bechtel group, which is a major international consultancy house on engineering and design. That report should demonstrate the need, when working with offshore floating wind, depending on weather windows and a standardised production schedule, for a location where the turbines can be stored floating in the sea, with their concrete or steel foundations in place. Bechtel will set out exactly how that could and should be done at the Shannon Estuary. As I said, we need to do a similar exercise for the Port of Cork.
The analysis and work we need to do is not just about the deployment out. It is also about focusing on what we do with the power when it comes in. I emphasised those two locations because the Shannon Estuary, with Aughinish Alumina, Irish Cement, Shannon Airport, Tarbert and Moneypoint nearby, already has very extensive brownfield energy infrastructure which can be used in this new way with this new energy coming ashore. Similarly, the Port of Cork is near Whitegate Refinery, power generation locations, pharmaceutical industries and the former nitrates site at Marino Point, which are areas that have historically had major energy infrastructure. We need to think about not just wet storage but what we do with the power when it comes ashore. That is as important as the deployment outwards of the energy.
