I am pleased to attend this meeting with my departmental colleagues: Ms Sara White, deputy secretary general; Mr. Martin Finucane, principal officer; Mr. St. John O'Connor, principal officer; Ms Úna Nic Giolla Choille, principal officer; and Mr. Bob Hanna, chief scientific adviser. We will be glad to answer any questions members may have on the range of issues set out in the agenda.
It is appropriate that we should begin with the issue of offshore energy. The committee has made a very valuable contribution via its proposed legislation on the planning aspect. It is an area in which we have great potential. Our target for 2020 is that some 40% of electricity is to be generated from renewable resources. Analysis carried out on the all-island grid study shows that we could get up to 42% if we can manage the variables applying within our system. At a rough estimate, it is expected that some 4,000 MW of power will come from onshore wind, which is the most immediate, commercially viable and deliverable source of renewable energy, but that at least a further 2,000 MW will come from offshore sources within that timeframe.
There is great potential to go beyond that. Offshore generation allows for the scaling up of the renewable technology to allow for the production of large volumes of power. An increasingly integrated European market will allow us to import power to meet our own needs but will also provide the opportunity for us to create a significant industry on the back of the resources we have. On the ocean side, these resources are concentrated around the potential for offshore wind but also offshore wave and tidal energy. If those opportunities can be exploited in combination, there will be opportunities for us to build scaled projects that bring significant benefits and efficiencies. Any map of Europe detailing both wind and ocean resources would indicate that we have some of the greatest potential. It is in our interest to develop that.
The European Union is placing significant emphasis on the development of offshore renewable energy as a potential European energy source. My recent discussions with the Commissioner have included a consideration of our various energy packages. The Commission has included in its strategic areas for development, the development of offshore grids in what it refers to as the north-western waters. In other words, it is looking to Irish and Scottish waters as a location for the potential development of an offshore grid to tap into the offshore resources that exist there. The direct involvement of the Commission in support of offshore wind projects shows that there is a recognition at a high level within Europe that offshore energy may be one of the fundamental solutions to the energy crisis we face as a consequence of insecure gas and oil supplies.
When it comes to delivering on this resource, I have always said that we are at an advantage because we have a properly devised planning framework. The ten-year strategy set out in the report which, as I understand it, was commissioned by Sustainable Energy Ireland and adopted by the Department, defines a four-phase approach to the development of our offshore resources. We came to the end of the first phase early last year. Over the two and a half years of this initial phase, some test research work was undertaken, with the establishment of an initial test facility in Galway Bay. Work done in the wave centres in Cork showed there was potential. Several companies were involved in that and had been working on projects for some years. We made the calculation that it was now time to move up to the next phase, which will still be pre-commercial but will involve a scaling up of our plans in terms of providing grant schemes for prototype devices, further ocean or wave testing facilities, and a feed-in process to encourage any company that is getting close to commercial application to try for a revenue stream from that. The plans also entailed the provision of an offshore grid connected site, in Belmullet as it turned out, to allow the setting out of arrays that would work in a real life environment to produce and ship back electricity.
Crucially, it has become clear that planning also is a key constraint. It has been highly encouraging that large international utility companies with real expertise have begun to team up with Irish companies with technology in this area to ascertain whether they can begin to test their devices in Irish waters and implement a programme to deploy an initial test device, followed by a pre-commercial or a commercial device. I have been both surprised and heartened by the progress in the industrial sector with its plans to deploy devices. In talking to such companies, it is clear that planning and transparency in foreshore planning and planning applications for such developments is a key consideration. The joint committee's report and investigation into the issue was timely because my Department has been performing its own internal analysis that it has been sharing with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in particular. The latter Department will assume responsibility for foreshore planning from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on foot of a Government decision to effect such a transfer and the requisite legislation is being drafted. The mechanism behind such a planning process has yet to be decided and the joint committee's approach and suggestions will be given serious consideration.
I will make two or three points in this regard and ask Mr. Martin Finucane to comment afterwards. We have both a short-term issue and a medium-term issue. The short-term issue pertains to the management of applications already in the system and how one can ensure that viable or potential applications that have a real and immediate call on securing planning approval can get through the system quickly and with a certain clarity. This is an immediate issue, in that we must help those investors who are considering making investment decisions, possibly this year. At the same time, it must be recognised that we must move away from this system towards a much more transparent and easy to manage system in the deployment of this natural resource. This will be done in a number of stages.
The ocean energy unit of Sustainable Energy Ireland is on the point of commissioning a major strategic environmental assessment of Irish waters to map completely the resource around the island. This is crucial because it may allow us to move towards a further stage in which the deployment of the resource will be managed by central government in a much more controlled manner, in which my Department will have a clear interest. This would be similar to what is happening in Scotland where the Crown Estate has taken blocs of water and declared it is seeking expressions of interest in these areas. One manages the deployment in a manner that is similar to the management of petroleum exploration resources, in that one has licensed terms whereby companies make a commitment over a seven or ten-year period to carry out their investigations or programmes.
Such environmental assessment and management constitute one aspect of the medium-term system we must put in place and planning approval is another. It does not necessarily have to be completely connected and in many ways the ability or interest of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in managing the provisions of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act may make it a better location in which to manage the system's planning aspect. I note the joint committee's work has suggested such a strategic infrastructure approach should apply in this area and I agree. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may be best placed to manage it, as it has responsibility for the aforementioned planning legislation.
These are the broad parameters. As I noted, we must manage a difficult interregnum period in which investments are made under existing applications, the environmental assessment of the resources available to us is carried out and in which a new, transparent and easy to manage planning system and works scheme for the development of ocean energy resources is established. The legislation the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will prepare, as the body responsible for this aspect of planning, will be greatly influenced both by my Department and the joint committee's work as evidenced in the Bill it has presented.
