Mr. Joe O'Carroll:

I agree with Deputy Dooley's point about the jobs in the solar industry, because it is not just about large-utility scale energy. There is potential for a significant amount of rooftop panels and we have been involved in a large number of commercial rooftop schemes. They are probably more labour intensive than other schemes so the final figure could be a multiple of the 3,000 mentioned in the report.

The technology for harnessing offshore wind already exists and the opportunity off the west coast is for floating platforms, in which respect a number of different technologies are already being deployed. Japan is taking the lead in this area, along with France. A number have been deployed off the west coast of France and a significant number are to be deployed off the coast of Japan as it looks to move away from the nuclear sector. The barriers include the route to market and the physical grid connection and these should be looked at. There is a suggestion in the national development plan that coal will be taken fully offline by 2025, which will free up almost 1 GW of grid capacity.

It should be an aim within that timeframe to have a significant offshore wind opportunity using at least some of the grid connection already there. On cost, offshore cost continues to come down. It has probably halved over the last ten years. Prices are now about £50 per megawatt hour in the most recent contracts for difference, CfD, auction in the UK. That would have been unheard of and even people's most ambitious projections a few years ago would not have seen prices come down to that. We can see the same here.

However, driving down the cost of delivery of renewable energy requires a scale of ambition that attracts the right level of activity in the supply chain. One takeaway point we would make to the committee is we would encourage it to use its influence to set a very high ambition. With that ambition, we will see more actors come into the market and that will help drive down the costs of the technology and the implementation of projects.