Chamber: Ireland must speed up offshore wind projects to end Russian energy dependency

Dee Ryan, Limerick Chamber CEO, said Ireland has enough renewable energy capacity offshore to satisfy multiples of our domestic requirements.

Efforts are needed to accelerate the development of offshore wind along the Munster coast in order to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels, Limerick Chamber has said.

A number of offshore wind projects are currently in the planning stages across the southwest off the coasts of Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare with the Atlantic wind resource estimated to be up to 80GW of capacity.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rapidly rising cost of oil and gas, Limerick Chamber CEO Dee Ryan said the target of developing 5GW of offshore wind in the Climate Action Plan should be doubled.

“Aside from the most obvious impact from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is the appalling and senseless death and destruction, the horrific and tragic events happening have posed a huge energy security issue for all of Europe," Ryan said. 

"The European Commission’s plan to address this outlined last week includes accelerating the transition to green energy and generation of renewable hydrogen production. Ireland has the potential to be a leading European player in both these related areas."

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“The reality is we not alone have enough renewable energy capacity offshore to satisfy our own domestic requirements but multiples of that. We can produce electricity and green fuels from that to give us energy security and contribute significantly to Europe’s transition from its dependence on Russian fuels.

“We are sitting on perhaps the greatest economic and environmental opportunity that has ever landed on our nation’s laps. Thanks to the natural advantage we have on the Atlantic seaboard, Ireland is today’s equivalent of the Middle East of the last century, except for two clear differences. 

"One is that our resource is entirely renewable and the other is that we have a relentless supply. The similarity, however, is that the opportunity is huge and because of what’s happening in Ukraine, it’s suddenly become a lot more urgent.”

Along with doubling wind capacity, Limerick Chamber said investment must also be made in infrastructure at Foynes Port in the Shannon estuary and the fast-tracking of a national hydrogen policy to facilitate the export of energy to Europe.

Other suggestions from Limerick Chamber include:

• Fasttrack development of the Foynes to Limerick Road
• Appoint a Shannon Estuary taskforce, with terms of reference to prioritise realising the offshore renewable opportunity 
• Commence operations and double down resources for the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) 
• Allow developers to initiate seabed surveys with immediate effect 
• Strengthen funding of offshore renewable and green fuels research and development

“One of our biggest issues here is ambition," Ryan said. "We have a target of just 5GW for 2030 when we perhaps should either be doubling that or, indeed, removing it altogether as the current target is simply limiting our ambition and our urgency. Right now, we need ambition and urgency."