Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Renewable Energy and Port Capacity: Discussion
Mr. Tim Murphy:
The Deputy's point is well made, but he has not had the benefit of seeing our master plan yet. It is being launched this week. It has huge ambition on floating offshore renewable energy. We are showing 22 ha of reclaimed land in the lower harbour to satisfy that. We are not saying it is something that will not happen. It will happen. We are saying that, right now, the immediate requirement of this Government is to have 5 GW of ORE in place by 2030. That can be mainly satisfied by fixed ORE under phase 1 and phase 2A. That is the first requirement. The second requirement is 20 GW by 2040, and 37 GW by 2050. That is in ten, 20 and 30 years time. The immediate call for Ireland is to get fixed ORE out there and get infrastructure in place for the ports to satisfy that. We have huge ambitions for floating. It was the same theme recently at the WindEurope Conference in Copenhagen - get fixed ORE built out and then focus on the floating. Do not confuse them.