Commitment to wind energy stressed

Ireland will have about 2,000 megawatts of electricity sourced from off-shore wind farms over the next decade, a wind energy conference in Dublin was told today.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs also told the conference, organised by the National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland (NOW), that European funding will be made available for improvements to the grid which would enable the State to sell surplus electricity overseas.

Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan told the conference that Government policy provided for some 2,000 megawatts of electricity to be generated by off-shore wind farms by 2020, when 40 percent of Ireland's energy would come from renewables.

He said on-shore wind farms would continue to have priority in the Government's thinking, at least until the development of improved electricity links to the UK and Europe to allow Ireland to sell electricity overseas. He said on-shore wind farms will provide at least twice as much electricity as off-shore facilities over the next decade.

The secretary of NOW Brian Britton said Ireland could be much more ambitious. He said at least 2,000 megawatts of off-shore wind electricity was already in planning and "we believe there is potential for at least another 3,000 megawatts". As technology develops to allow deep water installation "the western seaboard offers massive scope for future development", he said.

He warned that "people in Europe have already woken up to this technology" and he cited a report from wind turbine manufacturer Siemens which pointed out there is currently €300m in commitments to off-shore wind energy across Europe.

"Ireland needs to capture the jobs in this market. It requires the political will to go after sectoral companies in the same way as we targeted Intel and Microsoft." He said.

Mr Ryan said the development of the industry was dependent on the development of the grid and more interconnectivity between Ireland and its neighbours. He said an EU-funded study of the possibility of creating a new off-shore grid in the Irish Sea was being undertaken.