Delivering Ireland’s offshore wind ambition
offshore wind report
Offshore: Routes to market and further reduction of risk Nguyen Dinh, head of hydrogen and principal in Ireland and Vietnam at OWC, and Claire Atkins, OWC Ireland country manager and a specialist in offshore wind supply chain, infrastructure and installation, discuss routes to market options and further reduction of risk and costs for offshore wind energy.
Dinh contextualises where Irish offshore wind finds itself at the moment: “The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan Phase 1 identifies the potential for offshore wind farm development of up to 39GW without significant adverse effects on the environment. The potential for Irish offshore energy including wave and tidal could be 70GW, 10 times our national electricity needs. Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has very ambitious targets of 40 per cent of energy and 70 (now 80) per cent of electricity from renewables by 2030. “However, we know that electricity consumes only 30-35 per cent of total energy and that the other 65-70 per cent is consumed by transport, heat and other sectors, which is mostly imported from other countries. So, the question is: how we can deliver that potential to all sectors?”
“Hydrogen may have its challenges but deepwater wind projects fitted with electrolysers could change the way we store and transport energy.”
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Dinh mentions that EirWind’s Irish Offshore Wind Blueprint 2020-2050, published in July 2020 and synthesised from more than 40 research reports, sets the vision for 2030 to meet the Government’s target and develop up to 7.3GW of wind generation. If the infrastructure required can be developed and scaled up by 2040, an expected 13.8GW of offshore wind is to be delivered. By 2050, Ireland expects to be a global exporter of offshore power and hydrogen exporting about 30 percent by 2040 and more than 60 percent by 2050 with regards to hydrogen production. Delivering the blueprint targets will bring in enormous economic, social, and environmental benefits to Ireland. With this expectation looming over the development of offshore wind in Ireland, Dinh and Atkins explain the typical development of a project, particularly with regard to costs and possible risks: “In general, most offshore wind projects will have five stages. Stage 1, development and consenting, takes considerable investment and the risks here include regulatory uncertainty, costly surveys and experience of the consultant and other contractors used. The next stage, Stage 2, is component manufacturing which entails significant capital expenditure for components, structure and turbine manufacturing. There are multiple risks in this stage which include contracting risks, a lack of standardisation, lack of risk sharing, and insufficient capacity or inexperienced contractors. “Stage 3, transportation and installation, these costs are heavily dependent on infrastructure availability and logistics. Particularly when you consider key elements such as port infrastructure. Stage 4, operations and maintenance, governs the revenue but is largely dependent on the reliability of O&M measures and sufficient infrastructure availability. The last stage, Stage 5, is decommissioning. It is important to weigh up the costs and the risks associated with all five stages, in order to
