Eirgrid reveals the winners of Ireland's first offshore wind auction

The participants of the auction confidentially submitted a bid price to EirGrid between April 27 April and May 3. This is the price, per megawatt-hour (MWh), at which they are seeking a contract to provide electricity.

Four planned wind farms to be located on the east and west coasts were successful in Ireland's first auction for the generation of electricity from offshore wind.

The auction happened under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS), which guarantees future prices. More than 3GW of capacity has been procured from the four offshore wind projects, three to be located in the Irish Sea and a fourth off the Connemara coast, which will deliver more than 12 Terawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year, equivalent to over a third of Ireland’s entire electricity consumption this year.

Map showing the location of the four wind farms in the State's first offshore energy auction. Source: Eirgrid

The government welcomed the results and said the competitive price secured — at an average of €86.05/MWh — is one of the lowest prices paid by an emerging offshore wind market in the world. For comparison, the average wholesale electricity price in Ireland over the past 12 months was in excess of €200/MWh.

However, the bids are significantly above those secured by other countries. Offshore wind auction results from last year by the UK's grid operator saw one Scottish partnership bidding as low as £37.35 (€34.22) per MWh.

“The successful completion of this auction is a massive step forward for the delivery of renewable energy in Ireland and critical to achieving the targets set in the 2030 Climate Action Plan,” said industry body Wind Energy Ireland.

The participants of the auction confidentially submitted a bid price to EirGrid between April 27 April and May 3. This is the price, per megawatt-hour (MWh), at which they are seeking a contract to provide electricity.

Codling Wind Park, a joint venture between Fred Olsen Seawind and EDF Renewables, emerged as one of the winners of the milestone auction by Eirgrid.

Cork-based Statkraft and its offshore partners Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Green Investment's Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta project and Saorgus Energy controlled Kish Offshore Wind and Bray Offshore Wind developments also secured contracts through the milestone auction.

“As we progress to the planning stages of the project, we will continue to work with local stakeholders such as residents, businesses, and the fishing community, as well as An Bord Pleanála,” said Donal O’Sullivan, VP for development and offshore with Statkraft Ireland.

The Statkraft project, which is earmarked for an area off the coast of counties Dublin, Louth, and Meath, will have the capacity to power approximately half a million Irish homes and businesses.

There have been two onshore auctions to date, RESS 1 in 2020 and RESS 2 in 2022, and a third is planned for this summer.

Offshore wind bodies have welcomed the long-awaited auction but significant barriers remain in the way for future projects.

A new report by the Cork University Business School (CUBS) showed that a lack of government engagement, support and funding are the main obstacles for Irish firms when entering the Irish offshore renewable energy sector.

“I don’t see the commitment or the will from Government. There is too much second guessing on the technology and taking an adoptive and wait and see approach,” said Dr Frank Crowley, lecturer in economics at Cork University Business School and co-Director of the Spatial and Regional Economics Research Centre at UCC.

“The technology will get cheaper and no matter what renewable tech becomes superior, be it offshore wind, wave or tidal, we still need to prepare our infrastructure, our ports, our grid, our research centres, and our supply chains,” he said.