Denis Collins: We need a modern-day Marshall Plan to deliver energy transition

Decarbonising Ireland's economy and achieving energy security is a far bigger task than the grid, heat pumps, and electric vehicles — but the good news is the prize is well within reach

We have to act but the signs are encouraging: Euro for euro invested, wind and solar are now more cost-effective than coal-fired power plants. Stock picture

The energy transition is the great global endeavour of our times. The shape of our future depends on it.

It’s a complex challenge, technically, socially, politically, and economically. Its success demands investment in infrastructure on a scale that we haven’t seen before.

The urgency only accelerates when we consider the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and Putin’s hybrid war.

Firstly, what does the energy transition mean? It is no less than a mass movement of humanity away from our ruinous addiction to fossil fuels.  We can look at the transition in three pillars — energy provisioning;  energy efficient devices; and energy recovery and conservation. 

Each contains a myriad of complexities and challenges, and there’s a high degree of interdependency. 

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• Can we provision through exclusively (or close to) carbon-neutral energy sources? 
• Can we deploy devices that are highly efficient and draw on clean energy? 
• Can we conserve, recycle, and reuse energy — directly or indirectly — and avoid waste?

The interdependence is obvious. In transportation, an internal combustion engine can never deliver carbon-neutral performance unless the energy source is clean, which means boats and trucks powered by hydrogen rather than diesel. The same holds true for an electric vehicle, unless the power that charges its battery is green.

But it’s a mistake to think of the energy transition in terms of infrastructure alone. 

Match the scale of the challenge 

It’s a far bigger project than the hardware and grid, than heat pumps and electric vehicles. It transcends political boundaries, social class, and regional economics.

Like a modern-day Marshall Plan, we need to bring together a broad and disparate coalition of thought leaders, legislators, academics, researchers, NGOs, activists, industry clusters, infrastructure builders, technology providers, the service community, utilities, consumers, investors and other funders, innovators, and startups.

It faces challenges. 

Global economic imbalances and technology deficits exist in certain areas. Social cohesion is lacking, and sometimes political will. It’s staggering to note how many would rather look the other way, even though climate breakdown has moved from an abstract threat to a clear and present danger.

The single biggest motivation for change is economics. Only the minority will do the right thing for its own sake. The majority must be persuaded by return on investment.

There are encouraging signs. 2021 was a record year for investment in renewable generation capacity. Euro for euro invested, wind and solar are now more cost-effective than coal-fired power plants. This is remarkable, but it wouldn’t have come about without political will and support from governments for the early innovators.

The good news for Ireland is that there’s a massive prize within reach. We can get to fully decarbonised energy from large-scale offshore wind deployments, complemented by an ambitious and innovative storage strategy, all interconnected by a fit-for-purpose grid. 

This opportunity for self-sufficiency and energy security was never the case for Ireland. If we act now with cohesion, we have the potential to propel ‘Ireland Inc’ to the vanguard of the climate movement.

The wish list for Ireland is: 

• Adopt an aggressive programme of offshore wind infrastructure; 
• Build a resilient grid, fit for exclusively carbon-neutral energy; 
• Champion and invest in innovative storage technologies and methodologies; 
• Rapidly scale up deployment of technology to decarbonise and electrify heat on the demand side; 
• Create the foundation for Ireland to become a global innovation hub for climate tech; 
• Become a net exporter of green energy.

Rapid decarbonisation must become our collective priority. We need policy and regulatory frameworks to move faster. We need more streamlined grants. We need greater collaboration between government and industry, and we need it now. We simply cannot afford to let the pursuit of perfection be the enemy of the good.

• Denis Collins is the CEO of ActionZero

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