Offshore wind is key to powering our future
Offshore wind key to our energy targets
THIS coming Friday, an invitation for responses to a Government consultation on the design of a new renewable energy support scheme will close. This long-awaited process to agree a replacement for the current renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit) support scheme is arguably the most important energy consultation the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has undertaken in recent times. The scheme being designed will set the future course of how we meet Ireland’s decarbonised energy goals.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. While we have made significant headway to date towards decarbonising our island economy, halving carbon emissions from electricity generation from 1990 levels mostly through onshore wind, we cannot ignore the fact we will miss our EU emissions targets by a wide margin, likely resulting in EU fines totalling hundreds of millions of euro.
To his credit Minister Denis Naughten has acknowledged that while Ireland remains committed to meeting our ambitious targets, the outlook is ever more challenging. Latest analysis by the SEAI shows Ireland is going to miss its total 2020 renewable energy target by almost 20pc, while EirGrid estimates we will need accelerated delivery of between 800 and 1200MW of renewable capacity if we are to meet our 40pc electricity target.
So the consultation before us from his department takes on even greater significance.
One of the debates within the consultation is whether we should set specific support categories in the auction process for different renewable technologies – such as onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and biomass – or whether all technologies should compete against each other, which is described as a ‘least-cost’ solution.
However, this purely price-based, technology neutral approach risks pitting the technologies that are best placed to deliver future large-scale renewable energy capacity – especially onshore and offshore wind – against each other on a pure cost-per-MWh basis. What’s wrong with that? Surely the lowest-cost solution is the best option? Well, while costs associated with offshore energy are falling, it is still more expensive than other technologies on a pure cost-perMWh scale. However, the ‘least-cost’ technologies on their own, such as onshore wind and solar, will not deliver on our overall targets – especially in a world where social acceptance to onshore energy developments is not what it was, and where greater grid and planning constraints have been imposed as a result. So, can we really afford not to create the investment environment for offshore wind energy?
Ireland has one of the strongest offshore wind resources in the world; yet we are the only country in Northern Europe not currently developing offshore capacity.
If we are to meet our medium-term 2030 renewables targets, then we need to fast-forward the build-out of large-