Ireland joins European project to scale up offshore wind energy

Ireland’s inclusion in a North Sea plan to rapidly scale up offshore wind energy generation and build an international grid is key to avoid being left out of European plans to create a vast power generation network, the Taoiseach has said.

Ireland joined a group of eight European countries in a pledge to quadruple wind energy generation and develop “islands” linking offshore energy infrastructure, declared in the coastal Belgian city of Ostend on Monday.

Ireland’s inclusion extends the scope of the plans as far as the Atlantic Ocean, and the potential for the country to become a major wind energy exporter was highlighted at the summit.

“We’re very glad to be added to the group, because there’s a risk that everything would happen in the North Sea and we’d be kind of left out on a limb and then trying to connect in later,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told The Irish Times. “But this means as things get built out in the North Sea, we’ll be part of that.”

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The North Sea is seen as a prime area for the construction of offshore wind facilities because it is relatively shallow, making construction easier.

However, if Ireland can develop the technology to build in the deeper and wilder waters off its coast, there is significant potential for energy generation due to higher wind speeds and frequent storms.

Mr Varadkar told a press conference at the conclusion of the summit that Ireland aimed to build wind energy farms with the capacity to produce roughly five times the entire current national electricity demand, meaning that the country would become a major energy exporter.

He described it as a “huge economic opportunity”.

“The fuel that powers the energy is free, and all you need to do is install the equipment and install the grid,” Mr Varadkar said.

“When it comes to the investment, we’re going to need a combination of private investment and public investment. It’s going to take many billions, tens of billions we believe. But crucially, I think we need to understand that this form of public investment is public investment that will pay for itself,” he continued.

“A lot of public investment that we make is really important and really valuable, but it never turns a profit. Investment in energy will turn a profit.”

In a sign of warming relations and greater post-Brexit co-operation, Britain’s state secretary for energy security Grant Shapps joined the conference and announced a deal with the Netherlands to build a large interconnector line to carry wind farm energy between them.

Leaders from Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, and Germany also joined the conference, which was hosted by Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

Delegates representing the wind energy industry also attended the summit, which was aimed to encourage standardisation of wind turbine technologies and grid interconnections so that production can be scaled up and energy shared.

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan said that the development of wind energy resources would lead to cheaper electricity costs for consumers.

“That’s the cheapest power supply in the world. And it’s also the most secure, it’s also the cleanest, it’s also the one where we have advantage,” he told reporters.