What the Government does over the next two years will decide whether Ireland reaches its 2030 climate action targets, the Irish Wind Energy Association has warned today.
The association has today published its "Building Offshore Wind" report - the fourth in a series of reports which set out the country's pathway to a 70% renewable electricity system.
Today's report shows how the Programme for Government's target of 5 GW of offshore wind energy can be met.
Dr David Connolly, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association, said that if a project does not have planning permission by the end of 2025 it will not be built by the end of the decade.
Dr Connolly said the country has the pipeline to deliver its 2030 target with more than 16 GW of offshore projects at some stage of development off the coast of Ireland.
But he said the country does not have a planning regime for offshore wind, there is no system for projects to connect to the electricity grid and no way for them to sell their power on the market.
"Already, wind energy is delivering more CO2 savings than every other form of renewable energy combined.
"With 5 GW of offshore wind energy we can make this Government’s vision a reality and cut carbon emissions in the electricity sector by more than 7% annually," he stated.
"But it cannot, and it will not, happen unless the problems we have identified are resolved," he added.
Today's report is the last in a four-part series of reports setting out the policy changes required to ensure Ireland reaches the target set in the Climate Action Plan to source 70% of the country's electricity from renewable energy by 2030.
The previous reports were "Saving Money", which proposed measures to reduce the cost of renewable electricity. The second report, "Saving Power", called for a stronger electricity grid to support the integration of renewables and the third report, "Building Onshore Wind", identified the barriers which must be eliminated to develop onshore wind energy in Ireland.
Over the first 11 months of 2020 wind energy provided 37.1% of Ireland's electricity.
According to the most recent report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, wind energy avoided 3.15 million tonnes of CO2 and cut the country's fossil fuel import bill by €432m in 2018.
The Irish Wind Energy Association said today that the biggest barrier to the development of offshore wind energy is the country's electricity transmission grid.
EirGrid, which operates the grid, estimates that the east coast of Ireland can accommodate 1.5 GW of wind energy yet the Programme for Government ambition is for 5 GW.
"Our members will not build wind farms to sit idle off our coast. We must get the power to shore. Industry needs to know that EirGrid and ESB Networks will have the resources they need to develop the grid and have the confidence it will be reinforced in time," Dr Connolly cautioned.
"It can take years to build infrastructure to strengthen the transmission grid. This work needs to start immediately if it is to be completed in time to ensure the Ireland of 2030 is one that is powered by renewable energy," he added.
