'There’s just been nothing happening' - Ireland 'politically lazy' on renewable energy

Wind Energy Ireland's report for March showed wind energy provided 33% of Ireland’s electricity last month. File photo: Denis Minihane

Ireland has been "politically lazy" when it comes to the potential of renewable energy such as offshore wind to reinvigorate regional economies, with policy around it "in a vacuum since 2003".

That is according to one of the experts taking part in a Dublin City University discussion on the implications of the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released this week. That report found a very narrow path to avoiding the worst implications of global warming in the future.

DCU's Centre for Climate and Society's webinar heard from a range of experts such as Dublin City Council climate action coordinator Dr Sabrina Dekker; DCU assistant professor at the school of law, Dr Diarmuid Torney; World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Scotland policy head Gina Hanrahan; and DCU assistant professor of sustainable energy, Dr James Carton.

Dr Dekker said the idea of individuals taking small steps to reduce emissions is not a redundant one, despite scepticism or reluctance of individuals to do so. Where they may not take personal action in one area, they could make up for it in others, she said.

"Some actions can be small - reducing food waste is an action you can take three times a day. There's always a way for people to act."

Dr Torney said putting off taking action on climate change cannot be justified by saying it's not the right time with other pressing issues.

He said:

There's never a 'right time' for climate action. First, there was recession then Brexit, then a global pandemic and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ireland has been lazy politically on renewable energy policy despite the abundance of opportunity and willingness of businesses and communities to engage, Dr Carton said.

"There’s just been nothing happening. That’s changed only in 2021 effectively with the set up of the Mara, which is basically going to organise for the east coast offshore. Yet offshore floating, which is really Ireland’s opportunity in this and the next decade, is only beginning to start," he said.

Mara is the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, which will oversee licensing and regulation for offshore renewable energy.

Dr Carton said: "The problem isn’t that someone doesn’t have the money, the problem is that the risk for investing in Ireland today is too high, and they prefer to go to Scotland. The example in Scotland is that they opened up an auction with 5GW of offshore wind, and 25GW, five times more, actually won the auction. 

"Ireland is effectively aiming for 5GW on the east coast, and potentially 1Gw on the west coast by 2030.

"I would suggest with Ukraine, with energy security, with opportunity, investment banks, pensions from all over the world would flood into the west coast of Ireland to put in 10s of GW," he said.

Wind Energy Ireland's report for March showed wind energy provided 33% of Ireland’s electricity last month.

Yet Ireland’s imported fossil fuel dependence drove wholesale prices to the highest monthly average since the Integrated Single Electricity Market was set up in 2018, the body said.

Chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, Noel Cunniffe, said: "The faster we build new wind and solar farms, the sooner we can end our reliance on imported fossil fuels. We can become energy independent and, critically, drive down prices for consumers. The price increases we are seeing in our bills today are largely due to the Russian gas industry’s control over Europe’s gas supply."

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