Minister plans export of clean electricity

THE GOVERNMENT is to seek EU approval “within weeks” for a renewable energy subsidy which would unlock early investment of €3 billion in three Irish offshore windfarms. The move is the first step in a plan which could see Ireland generating 10 times its electricity needs from offshore wind and marine resources by 2050.

The plan launched yesterday by Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan envisages Ireland exporting electricity to the UK and continental Europe. The Minister said almost all of the State’s renewable energy targets for 2020 would be met by onshore developments.

But he said the State needed to look beyond that and by far the greatest potential for generating and exporting renewable energy lay in Irish coastal waters which were 10 times Ireland’s land area.

The EU application for approval of the subsidy is to be sent to Brussels before Christmas, according to the plan. The subsidy guarantees power generators payments for electricity, at about 14 cent per kilowatt, a move which is crucial in attracting investors and project finance.

There are three windfarms in Irish waters which have permission to connect to the national grid. These are the Oriel and Dublin Array windfarms in the Irish Sea and the Fuinneamh Sceirde project off Galway.

Between them they have permission to generate almost 800 megawatts of electricity with a combined investment of about €2.5 billion. A further investment of some €400 million in support services for offshore wind projects has been proposed by multinational engineering company Strabag.

A further two windfarms in the Irish Sea which have not yet secured permission for connection to the grid are on a larger scale. The Arklow Bank project proposes capacity of 520 megawatts with an investment of some €1.56 billion. A larger project at the Codling Bank proposes a windfarm at an investment cost of €3.3 billion.

In total, the five offshore windfarms would generate over 2.5GW of electricity accounting for investment of €7-€8 billion. But the plan to develop the industry envisages this could rise to 5GW, an investment of some €15 billion.

Launching the plan yesterday, Mr Ryan said exporting electricity was dependent on a new offshore grid and new connections to the UK and elsewhere. But he added that energy ministers from nine EU countries, including Ireland, would meet next month to sign an agreement to advance proposals for a new offshore grid. Norway is expected to be the 10th signatory.

Proposals for the new grid would then be discussed at an EU heads of government summit on energy in February. Mr Ryan will meet British energy minister Chris Huhne this month to discuss an export deal with the UK.

“This is very real, this is very much happening today. This is very much at the centre of Government thinking” Mr Ryan said.

The National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland welcomed the plan. “We applaud Minister Ryan for that initiative,” said its president, Mick McBennett.