Ukraine war puts spotlight on Ireland's clean energy future

With electricity demand projected to increase by between 19% and 50% by 2030, the roll out of renewables cannot come quick enough

Mon, 04 Apr, 2022 - 03:00

Cathal Ryan

The current energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war may seem like it’s all doom and gloom, as electricity and gas suppliers announce new price hikes, leaving consumers at the whim of the global commodity prices.

However, offshore wind presents a unique opportunity for Ireland, to both decarbonise and secure electricity supply. Ironically, Ireland's position as a late adopter of the technology could speed up the buildout.

There is the opportunity to become energy independent in a way we could have never previously imagined. With electricity demand projected to increase by between 19% and 50% by 2030, the roll out of new renewables cannot come quick enough.

Ireland has set a lofty target for 80% of electricity demand to be met by renewables by 2030. In practical terms, this requires more than a doubling of output from renewables.

Renewable generation made up 36% of electricity supply in 2019, 40% in 2020, and accounted for 32% in 2021. To achieve the 80% target, Ireland needs to install a lot more renewable generators, increase energy storage, and continue to use natural gas as our back-up fuel for some time.

So what type, or technology of renewables, must we install to achieve the generation capacity needed? The climate action plan targets at least a 5 gigawatts (GW) capacity of offshore wind, up to 8GW of onshore wind, and between 1.5GW and 2.5GW from solar.

An offshore wind farm has numerous advantages over onshore windfarms. That's because the turbines are much bigger and can capture more energy; out at sea there are higher average wind speeds; and they do not have any neighbours, something that can affect their performance.

Between now and 2030 there will be two Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auctions that will be offshore-wind specific, hopefully helping this nascent industry to get off the ground.

As a late adopter of offshore wind, notwithstanding the small existing site on the Arklow Bank, Ireland is in a great position to roll out the technology quicker than other countries.

Ireland can learn from countries like Britain and Denmark. However, we must act quickly, as offshore wind farms have a much longer development cycle than onshore. It can take 10 years or more to build an offshore wind farm from scratch. There are a number of projects that are already in development, however policymakers need to remove the development barriers.

With the dependency on wind and solar growing, the question remains, what can Ireland do to provide low carbon electricity, when the wind does not blow or there are clouds in the sky?

Energy storage could provide a reliable back-up and takes many forms. Lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used grid-level energy storage. Solar panels and battery systems could become as common as coffee machines in Irish homes, something unthinkable 10 years ago.

However, the fact remains, efficient natural gas generation will be the back-up fuel of choice between now and 2030. The Government is targeting 2GW of new gas generators over the next few years.

Zero carbon

After 2030, as Ireland looks towards a zero-carbon electricity system, natural gas will need to be paired with carbon capture technology, or alternatively, the Government may look to hydrogen.

Hydrogen is being touted as a solution to the energy security crisis and although at present it is not cost competitive, it is still easy to see how Ireland could become a world leader.

Hydrogen can be produced at scale via a process called electrolysis, which involves the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. The oxygen is released or used in other industry applications and the hydrogen can be stored as a gas, transported, or also used in a range of industry applications.

Ireland does not currently have any major industry which already uses large amounts of hydrogen. Its primary use could be in heavy goods transport and public vehicles. Hydrogen could also be blended with natural gas in the gas network and used to generate electricity for back-up power. With up to 30GW of offshore wind potential, Ireland could become a large producer of hydrogen both for our own domestic uses and international export.

The future is bright for Ireland when it comes to energy, with a massive untapped offshore wind resource which will always be able to satisfy our domestic demand, we have the potential to become energy independent in the 2030s.

Early action will be the key, the current crisis in global commodity prices has put firm focus on sustainable security of supply. High prices are likely to remain over the short term. However, building offshore wind could be crucial to reducing prices for consumers, while hydrogen presents an opportunity to secure our energy independence for ever more.