Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have just returned from Aberdeen where some of my colleagues from this committee and I looked at that Moray East offshore wind farm that is comprised of 100 turbines and located about 50 km off the coast. Moray East Offshore Wind Farm is incredibly impressive.

It seems to me that the system in this country has been very east coast-leaning throughout its history thus leading to a faster growth of the east coast. We have pushed infrastructure and responded to demand. Notwithstanding the current plans, and most of the phase 1 offshore projects are on the east coast, there is a greater opportunity in the long run for renewables on the west coast. Therefore, we must start planning to reinforce our infrastructure on the west coast side of the country and not view that as a prospect in the distant future. I believe that development will come on pretty quickly and developers will look to the west, particularly with the advent of floating offshore wind technology. What role can be played by ESB Networks? I ask because it was mentioned earlier that the Dublin grid needed to be reinforced. That is true but we need to plan for west coast infrastructure as well.