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:

Wave did not develop quite as fast. It is a very tough regime in terms of operating there. What has come on stream much faster than we realised is floating offshore wind. Floating offshore wind has been tested and proved at scale in the North Sea. A turbine does not operate at 100% of the time but in the North Sea it is possible to get about 40% to 45% of the effectiveness of the turbine and maybe even a bit higher than that. If we go into the Atlantic, we could get up to 80% because of the wind.