Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 March 2022

Public Accounts Committee

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Mr. Declan Meally:

I thank the Deputy. As regards offshore energy, the focus Ireland had in the years up to 2020 was particularly on wave energy because we were going to have enough onshore wind and we were looking at wave energy as a new technology. We have a fantastic wave resource on the west coast. That has changed in recent years, however, in terms of policy. Just this week, a new Bill was launched that relates to maritime planning opportunities. There are now seven projects in the offing that have been in development and planning and doing their environmental assessments and so on. Six of the projects are off the east coast and one is off the west coast. In terms of the offshore opportunity, as Mr. Walsh stated, 5 GW is what is needed by 2030. The progress that has been accelerated in the past 12 months or more has been on the planning and consenting side and to get the streamlining of those actions in place.