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Climate Minister Eamon Ryan TD outlines offshore ambitions
Climate Minister Eamon Ryan TD: Significant milestones on offshore journey
Climate change poses one of the greatest challenges facing the world and our shared future. The need to combat the devastating effects it has on our environment, society and economy is urgent, writes Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD.
We are now seeing a significant call to action, especially here in Ireland, to introduce new measures and practical solutions to help combat climate change and transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy.
The Government released a new Climate Action Plan in October 2021, which sets out a course of action to reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions and make Ireland carbon neutral by 2050. As part of the Plan, the government has committed to increasing our generation of electricity from renewable sources. We need to increase this proportion to up to 80 per cent by 2030 to meet the set targets. To achieve this, we must switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as wind energy. One of our first milestones is to reach 5GW of offshore renewable energy. electricity in Ireland was first introduced with the commission of first commercial wind farm in Bellacorrick, County Mayo in 1992. Since then, significant progress in technology, policy, and legislation has laid the ground for Ireland to become one of the leading producers of wind energy in Europe. With Ireland’s maritime area seven times the size of its landmass and our location at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, the potential for offshore wind energy is enormous.
Until recently, much of this offshore capacity was out of our reach as no legislative basis existed to regulate the use of our maritime area outside the 12 nautical mile coastal zone provided for in the Foreshore Act (1933). However, with the enactment of the Marine Area Planning (MAP) Bill last December, we not only have a legislative basis to harness this untapped potential, but also to manage and protect our maritime area. The comprehensive and coherent marine planning regime laid out in the MAP Act also provides clarity to developers on the offshore wind consenting system for developments in our maritime area.
The establishment of a new Maritime Area Consent (MAC) regime is a main feature of the MAP Act and will be a first step in a new and streamlined planning process. Developers assessed for and awarded a MAC can proceed to apply for development permission (planning permission), where they will undergo environmental assessment.
The MAC regime will assess the viability of applicants in key areas, including financial and technical competency, in advance of developers proceeding to environmental studies. The robust assessment of potential offshore developers who apply for a MAC will ensure that only the most viable offshore projects will have the opportunity to apply for development permission from An Bord Pleanála.
As Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I will have the responsibility of inviting MAC applications from an initial batch of offshore renewable energy projects, known as the ‘relevant projects’. The grant of the first MACs this year will represent a significant milestone in realising our ambitious climate targets of 2030 5GW target and a long-term plan of a potential of at least 30GW of floating wind thereafter.
After this first batch of MACs, responsibility will be handed over to a new agency, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA). MARA is of the highest priority for Government and is scheduled to be established and operational from 2023.
My department recently ran a public consultation on how the second batch of projects will be selected to enter the new consenting system with the aim of ensuring the most viable projects to be operational by 2030 can enter the new planning system.
Projects granted a MAC will be eligible to enter an auction-based scheme which invites renewable electricity projects to bid for capacity and receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate. This is the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), and its purpose is to ensure the best price is obtained for the consumer. At least three offshore auctions are planned for this decade, and by holding these auctions periodically, we will be able to take advantage of the latest technologies, potentially generating energy more efficiently at a lower cost. Projects looking for support under the new RESS will need to make Community Benefit Fund contributions at a fixed rate of €2/MWh of energy produced. This will generate significant funds which will be available to benefit coastal communities. My department is currently finalising the terms and conditions which will define how this will work.
Extensive work is being carried out elsewhere to facilitate the sustainable development of offshore renewable energy (ORE) in Ireland. Both EirGrid and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities are implementing actions to ensure the electricity grid can support the planned offshore capacity. The recently published Port Policy Statement sets out a multiport approach to the roll-out of the ORE industry in Ireland and will be instrumental in increasing flexibility, reducing costs and delays and derisking the construction phase of ORE projects.
The development of the offshore sector will also generate job opportunities in coastal areas and provide supply chain opportunities for local SMEs. Meanwhile, work is proceeding on a new Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP II) to identify areas most suitable for post-2030 deployment of wind, wave, and tidal technologies, while considering the need to protect marine biodiversity.
The establishment of offshore wind in Ireland is a significant undertaking, involving action across many areas of government. Work is well underway to deliver significant benefits not only in the short term, but also in securing our future for generations to come.
Powering change in Irish offshore ambitions: Lessons learned from ScotWind
SSE Renewables is building more offshore wind than any other company in the world right now.
Maria Ryan, Director of Development at SSE Renewables, says Ireland must follow the ScotWind model and embrace real ambition in developing the next phase of offshore wind.
The end of 2021 was notable for several significant milestones in the establishment of Ireland’s offshore wind sector. The first of these was the passing of the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Bill through all stages of the Oireachtas, enacting legislation which will provide the process to obtain planning consent for future offshore wind farms.
In another milestone, the Government engaged with the renewable energy industry to get feedback on how they would like to see the first offshore auction (ORESS1) designed and operated.
And looking beyond a landmark ORESS1 auction for the first phase of offshore wind projects in the Irish Sea, government and industry have now started to jointly explore how we can progress our ambitions for the next round of offshore wind development off our island, with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) launching a consultation on offshore wind Phase 2 in December.
The Phase 2 consultation looks at a range of issues with the aim of defining how we want to set the sector up to achieve the Irish Government’s ambition of delivering 5GW of offshore wind by 2030 and when should we take certain steps so that ambition can be met.
At SSE Renewables, we’ve been steadily progressing our two Phase 2 projects: Braymore Wind Park off the coast of County Louth and Celtic Sea Array off the Waterford coast. We are targeting a minimum generation capacity of 800MW at each offshore site which together would be capable of powering a combined total of over 1.6 million homes and offsetting almost two billion kilos of carbon annually. These projects would make a significant contribution to Ireland’s 2030 offshore wind target, but to be able to do so we will require complete confidence and clarity in the new regime under which they will be delivered.
We know from the MAP legislation that Phase 2 projects will need to wait until the establishment
SSE Renewables, one of the big ScotWind winners, says the lessons from ScotWind can accelerate and maximise the delivery of Ireland's Phase 2 offshore projects.
of a new consenting authority, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), before they can secure seabed and begin their consenting journey which isn’t likely until 2023. This time horizon to MARA gives government and industry an opportunity to look overseas to see what lessons we can learn from other successful markets.
The Phase 2 consultation also asks respondents to consider at what stage competing applications for the same seabed should be assessed. These assessments will decide who gets to progress with a project in a particular area. SSE Renewables fully supports DECC’s proposal for a competitive Maritime Area
Consent (MAC) assessment early in the process which would allocate seabed to developers. This will avoid multiple projects undertaking advanced development in overlapping seabed areas, something which would ultimately push costs up for the Irish offshore wind sector.
ScotWind success
The Phase 2 consultation does provide the pathway to help deliver Ireland’s 5GW next generation of offshore wind and reaching this milestone is welcome.
However, as a society in the midst of a climate crisis and which needs to challenge itself to do more, is settling for 5GW by the end of the decade really enough?
If we look across the Irish Sea to our nearest neighbour, the UK, we can easily observe what can be achieved when policy makers lift the limits from ambition.
At SSE Renewables we’re building more offshore wind than any other company in the world right now, and we’re building that offshore wind in UK waters. This includes the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the 3.6GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, as well as Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, the 1.1GW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm in the Firth of Forth. Our future development pipeline includes Scotland’s next global-scale opportunity, the 4.1GW Berwick Bank super-project.
In recent months, Scotland has pushed new offshore ambition into overdrive. The muchanticipated ScotWind seabed leasing process run by Crown Estate Scotland was one of the most hotly contested competitions that the global offshore wind sector has ever seen. Bidders from around the globe alongside local developers such as my own company lined up to bid for seabed rights to develop fixed as well as new floating offshore wind farms, with up to 10GW of new generation up for grabs.
The results, when they were published in January, delivered a power punch to that original 10GW target, and saw lease option agreements awarded to 17 bidders to deliver an eye-watering 25GW of clean, green electricity; enough to power tens of millions of homes, and power the expanding electrification of the Scottish economy.
It’s become one of the most exciting moments in the story of renewable energy. Little wonder Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP 4
hailed the ScotWind opportunity as truly historic, and that the results made headlines globally.
For our part at SSE Renewables, we’re delighted to have been awarded the rights, along with our ScotWind partners Marubeni Corporation and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to develop a new giant floating offshore wind farm in the North Sea capable of delivering at least 2.6GW of Scotland’s newest ambition. When complete our ScotWind project will become one of the world’s first and largest floating offshore wind farms and will put SSE Renewables well on target towards meeting our goal of delivering over a quarter of the UK’s 2030 offshore wind target.
Ireland next
As a relatively small market delivering large-scale ambitions, Scotland’s model points a potential way forward for Ireland. But it also demonstrates the level of competition that Ireland, as a market, is up against in terms of global competition to attract the required investment, skills, and equipment needed to deliver offshore wind farms of scale here.
We need to take the lessons we can from ScotWind so we can help accelerate and maximise the delivery of Phase 2 projects as quickly as possible. In our experience, it can take 10 years to develop an offshore project and while there has been a huge amount of progress, we only have eight years left to meet the 2030 targets. So, we need to ensure we continue with pace and resource sufficiently to ensure we deliver.
ScotWind presents learnings which are crucial in how you design a successfully functioning offshore wind market. The process put a cap on bid prices to avoid passing on overly burdensome costs to the consumer as well as to avoid leases being awarded purely based on how deep a bidders’ pockets are. To differentiate between applicants, they considered criteria such as experience and track record of delivery. This was to ensure that those awarded seabed have a strong chance of successfully delivering decarbonisation at scale within a given timeframe.
This model would work well in Ireland to minimise cost to the public whilst ensuring the maximum chance of delivery to meet government targets.
Getting it right
The speed at which the MAP Bill passed through all stages of the Oireachtas can only be commended. It’s essential now that we see the same level of purpose and enthusiasm ploughed into the establishment of MARA over this year and next, into the issuing of grid offers for Phase 1 projects, and into kicking off the first ORESS so we can begin getting turbines in Irish waters. We must see political will and sufficiently resourced administrative action more greatly aligned on the important goal of delivery.
ScotWind provides a blueprint for Phase 2 in Ireland and it’s fantastic to see DECC consulting early on the model for the Phase 2 process. Some of the features they suggest make eminent sense to bring certainty to the Irish offshore sector, such as running a competitive MAC process akin to ScotWind.
We should also take inspiration from ScotWind in the scale and pace of the ambition. Where the State can reduce risk and increase the likelihood of those awarded seabed ultimately delivering projects, it must. Where it can implement processes as quickly as possible to identify credible developers, and then provide them with the seabed needed to deliver its 5GW target at a minimum, it must. And where it can begin lifting the limit to our current ambition so that the State can create a market that stimulates a global appetite to invest here, it must.
If it does, then the Irish State will be all the better for it and will fast-track itself to the leadership position in offshore wind which it has the potential to become. In doing so, we’ll save money for consumers, help grow local supply chains, and set Ireland on course to achieve ambitious levels of decarbonisation and take our place on the global offshore wind stage.
W: sserenewables.com/offshoreinireland
Ireland moves closer to first offshore auction
With the passage of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021, Ireland is moving closer to the holding of its first offshore wind auction under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme, known as ORESS 1.
In October 2021, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications opened a consultation on the holding of ORESS 1, with the aim of engaging stakeholders and gathering feedback on the terms and conditions of the auction. The consultation closed on 6 December 2021.
The terms and conditions of ORESS 1 were also issued in October, in the weeks directly preceding the opening of the consultation. Due to the scale and natural of typical offshore wind farming, initial auction such as ORESS 1 are required in order to support the long-term potential of the technology. This approach received European state aid clearance in 2020 with the holding of the RESS 1 auction.
Speaking upon the launch of the consultation, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan TD said: “I welcome the publication of the draft terms and conditions of the first Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS 1) for consultation. The growth of offshore wind energy will play a major role in securing a supply of sustainable electricity for homes and businesses all over Ireland and will allow us to electrify sectors such as heat and transport. It will also play a key role in meeting our climate goals, to reduce overall emissions by 51 per cent by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050.”
Plans are afoot for the State to hold at least three offshore auctions, but due to the long development timelines of offshore wind projects, only the first two of these are expected to contribute to the target of 5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 as a means of contributing to an overall goal of 80 per cent of electricity coming from renewables.
With the passage of the Maritime Area Planning Bill, attention will now turn to the fledgling Maritime Area Consent process and the issuing of such consents to phase one offshore projects. Offshore grid connection assessment process must also be established, and these are being progressed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities.
The State has a sea area of 490,000km2, approximately seven times its landmass. There is long-term potential for 70GW of ocean energy in this area, through wind, wave and tidal power, all within 100km of the coastline.
Time running out for offshore wind targets
By the end of 2022, we will know whether the Government’s target of 5,000MW of offshore wind energy by the end of 2030 is achievable, writes Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland.
Arklow Bank wind farm. Credit: GE.
It is clear that, right now, we are not on track and that the emissions savings required from offshore wind in the proposed carbon budgets are unlikely to materialise.
There has been progress. The National Marine Planning Framework is complete. The Maritime Area Planning Act was passed by the Oireachtas just before Christmas. The model for our offshore electricity grid has been identified.
But this does not change the fact that we are losing time and that, today, we are less likely to hit our 2030 target than we were when the original Climate Action Plan was published.
The reality remains that the relevant government departments and state agencies responsible for enabling the development of offshore wind energy are chronically short of staff and resources while our industry is increasingly short of time.
The passage of the Maritime Area Planning Act was a significant achievement but it is still true that, based on the conversations I have every week with companies in the international supply chain, there is diminishing confidence that Ireland’s 2030 targets are achievable.
The concerns being highlighted by our members typically focus on two key areas which we must get right: grid and planning.
Electricity grid
Our Phase One projects, which we hope to see connected in 2027-2028, urgently need certainty on how the grid connection process will work and the timelines that will be involved. The policy eventually implemented by the CRU must be clear and legally robust.
Our members have a wealth of experience in this area from markets all over Europe. EirGrid should work closely with industry and use this experience to ensure we can construct and connect these projects as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible, ultimately bringing the best value to the consumer.
It is also important for EirGrid to work closely with our members as they update the Shaping Our Electricity Future strategy, which was published last year. While it is a step in the right direction, this will not deliver the grid infrastructure we will need to cut carbon emissions as required by the Climate Change Advisory Council nor to deliver a net-zero electricity system by 2035.
We cannot decarbonise our electricity supply without delivering the projects EirGrid has announced and supporting them is a litmus test that will tell us who in Ireland is serious about tackling climate change. But we need to go
further and particularly identify how we can strengthen the grid on the south and west coast.
While the Phase One projects are the priority, we must design a grid for the next generation of projects and particularly for the floating wind projects which have the potential to make Ireland a renewable energy superpower.
Planning system
As we focus our efforts on ensuring we have an electricity grid fit for purpose we must also create a planning system that can process enough applications over the next four years to ensure competitive auctions and, ultimately, 5,000MW of wind power.
Those of our members who struggle to get onshore projects through the Irish planning afford for projects to be delayed for years in the courts.
That is why it is so important to ensure that industry – and government – is confident that An Bord Pleanála has the expertise and the budget to deal with a coming rush of applications for some of the biggest and most complex infrastructure projects we will build in Ireland.
That confidence is not in industry today and its absence is particularly worrying when contracts under the first Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction will be awarded before planning permission is confirmed.
Overcoming challenges
These are big challenges, but they can be overcome. We know the target can still be offshore wind report
WindFloat being towed away after turbine is installed at Ferrol Outer Harbor, Spain. Credit: Photo courtesy of Principle Power. Artist: DOCK90.
system are understandably nervous when they consider the challenge of getting far larger and more complex projects through a system that often appears designed to prevent, rather than to enable, development.
The Maritime Area Planning Act provides a good start, but we need to ensure that the secondary legislation and the offshore planning guidelines which will come from the Act provide our projects with a level of post-consent flexibility that makes it practical to develop offshore wind farms in Ireland.
If our members are obliged, once planning permission has been obtained, to submit a new consent application every time a turbine needs to be moved a few metres or a cable route amended, then these projects will very quickly grind to a halt as planning authorities are overwhelmed.
There is also the potential for decisions to be challenged at every stage by means of judicial reviews. People are entitled to justice and to participate in the planning process, but we cannot achieved, but these projects will take time to build, and time is something we are fast running out of.
For us to deliver we need a much stronger electricity grid, a clear process for connecting projects and a planning system that makes delivery possible.
We will only see this if essential resources are invested in critical government departments and State agencies like An Bord Pleanála, National Parks and Wildlife Service, EirGrid, ESB Networks and the CRU to enable them, to empower us, to deliver the target set in the Programme for Government.
Together, we can – we must – connect the huge volumes of offshore wind energy that can decarbonise our electricity system and set us on the path to true energy independence.
E: office@windenergyireland.com W: windenergyireland.com
TEN-E Regulation: No longer oceans apart
Philip Lee Siobhán McCabe
Ireland and Europe must decarbonise energy completely by 2050. Offshore renewable electricity is going to form the backbone of these efforts to decarbonise. In 2020, the EU published its European Offshore Wind Strategy which included the objective to have an installed capacity of 300GW of offshore wind by 2050. That is nearly 55 times the current total installed wind capacity on the island of Ireland which is 5.5GW. Philip Lee, Partner and Executive Chairman, and Siobhán McCabe Energy Partner at Philip Lee, write.
Meeting these targets and objectives will require massive scaling up of the development of offshore projects and at the greatest of speed, unparalleled with any past development of other energy technologies.
Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources in the world. The seas of Ireland have some of the highest wind speeds globally, and more importantly unlike other areas with high wind speeds, the Irish seas are located close to massive centres of consumption, namely mainland Europe. Irish offshore wind has huge potential. However, transporting the energy from these offshore wind farms to mainland Europe will be a herculean task and will require the investment of billions of euros in the necessary infrastructure. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, the TEN-E Regulation. A proposal to revise the TEN-E Regulation was adopted in December 2020 for the purposes of modernising the existing regulation and to fully align it with the Green Deal objectives and was finally agreed following trilogue negotiations between the EU institutions at 5am on 15 December 2021.
In essence, the TEN-E Regulation sets out guidelines for linking the energy infrastructure of EU countries needed to achieve the EU’s climate neutrality objective by 2050 and outlines the process for selecting projects eligible to receive EU funds and policy support.
The TEN-E Regulation focuses on projects of common interest (PCIs) which are infrastructure projects considered necessary for delivering on EU objectives in the energy field. Typically, PCIs involve at least two member states by crossing the border of two or more member states or the project is located on the territory of one member state and has a significant cross-border impact.
However, of great importance to Ireland is the fact that the TEN-E Regulation also includes within its scope projects of mutual interest (PMIs). Essentially PMIs are similar to PCIs, except that they involve projects connecting the EU with third countries, such as in Ireland’s case, the UK. In order to come within its scope, PMIs will need to demonstrate that they bring significant benefits at EU-level. In addition, the third country will need to demonstrate high level of convergence of the EU policy framework and legal enforcement mechanisms to support the overall policy objectives of the EU. The third country must also commit to facilitate a similar timeline for accelerated implementation and other policy support measures as stipulated in the TEN-E Regulation. It will be of fundamental importance to Ireland that the UK is
considered to comply with these third country requirements for the success of PMIs and, at first glance, this appears to be the case. There is no doubt that projects proposed to be developed offshore and not so accredited as PCIs or PMIs will struggle.
The TEN-E Regulation identifies priority corridors which cover different geographic regions in the field of electricity, gas, and oil infrastructure as priority areas for investments. EU support for development in these corridors will connect regions currently isolated from European energy markets, strengthen existing cross-border interconnection and assist integrated renewable energy. Of particular interest to Ireland is the electricity corridors and offshore grid corridors. In respect of electricity corridors, Ireland is a member of the regional group the North South electricity interconnections in Western Europe (NSI West Electricity) which relates to interconnections between member states of the region and the Mediterranean area. Ireland is also a member of the Northern Seas offshore grid (NSOG). This regional group focuses on offshore electricity grid development, integrated offshore electricity including, where appropriate, hydrogen grid development in the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea, the English Channel, and neighbouring waters to transport electricity or in some cases hydrogen from renewable offshore energy sources to centres of consumption and storage or to increase cross border renewable energy exchange.
The TEN-E Regulation requires member states to give PCIs and PMIs priority status to ensure rapid administrative treatment. In order to simplify and expedite the permitting process, each member state is required to nominate a competent body to coordinate the process and to ensure that a maximum period of three-and-a-half years is allowed for the totality of the planning process (subject to an extension of nine months). In Ireland, An Bord Pleanála has been nominated as the relevant authority for this purpose.
Perhaps the most exciting provisions of the TEN-E Regulation are those dealing with the integrated offshore development plans, which will be included in the 10-year network development plans (albeit agreements made under these provisions will be non-binding). Member states, with the support of the Commission, will now jointly define and agree on the amount of offshore renewable generation to be deployed within each sea basin by 2050, with intermediate steps in 2030 and 2040. These objectives will be based on the national energy and climate plans, the offshore renewable potential of each sea basin, environmental protections, climate adaptation and other uses of the sea, as well as the EU’s decarbonisation targets. By the end of July 2023, the ENTSO for Electricity, with involvement from others, will develop integrated offshore network development plans for each sea basin. These strategic plans should provide a high-level outlook for future offshore generation and interconnection.
The TEN-E Regulation will drive the collective planning and development of cross-border energy infrastructure and offshore projects, creating a more integrated energy system. The development of offshore grids and offshore connections will determine Ireland’s future and role in this energy revolution. However, for Ireland to succeed, there must be immediate additional human and financial resources allocated to all of the institutions involved, including An Bord Pleanála, MARA and the courts. Progress must commence immediately on developing PCIs and PMIs. The development of these projects and infrastructure will enable Ireland to achieve climate neutrality, become a centre of energy production exporting green energy to mainland Europe, and be energy secure for the first time in its history.
E: plee@philiplee.ie smccabe@philiplee.ie W: www.philiplee.ie
