Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Murchú was true to his word and bang on the dot. I agree with Deputies O'Rourke and Ó Murchú that we need to take an all-island approach to this. We need to think bigger again and take a European approach. We will not make the decarbonisation to new energy system as an island alone. It will require co-operation with the United Kingdom and our continental European colleagues. It is a regional balancing system and a regional renewable system feeding into a hydrogen system. Electricity interconnection, gas interconnection and common gas strategies will be critical for security as we switch away from fossil fuel, particularly Russian gas, and develop the alternative.

In Ireland our ports will have a critical role. It will be Dublin, Belfast, Foyle and a range of the operation or maintenance ports, but also, in particular, Shannon, Cork and Rosslare ports. I could mention a range of ports. The centre of this new industrial revolution will be based on ports for a variety of reasons. Shannon and Cork are likely to be centre stage. Going back to what we said about this being an industrial strategy as well as an energy strategy, oil refinery, power generation, pharmaceutical and advanced manufacturing industries are all located around Cork Harbour. The ability to bring that offshore wind power ashore, convert it to hydrogen and-or ammonia or other fuels and then use it in the sort of industrial applications and the power generation sector we already have will be centre stage.

The same applies in the Shannon Estuary. Where are our emissions? Where is our industrial base? Where is our gas use? It is in facilities like Aughinish Alumina, Irish Cement and Moneypoint - not for gas but currently coal - where our power generation is. As the ESB has indicated, the real efficiencies will come where we bring offshore wind energy ashore. It is used in power generation and on those points of strong grid connection. Hydrogen is then used as a backup storage fuel so that when the wind is not blowing, we have a 100% zero-carbon backup power supply that uses the same hybrid grid connection providing efficient use of existing energy assets and of that offshore wind energy.

Similarly, with ports, it will be hydrogen to ammonia for transport, fuel and shipping. Even in Shannon Airport there is the potential to look at the use of hydrogen in synthetic fuels in the future, leading to zero-carbon flights. That is why much of the development will take place around the ports. That is where the offshore wind energy will come ashore. That is where we will have the capability and the industrial tradition to be able to do this. This is large scale. There is no point going small when converting to hydrogen or using hydrogen; we need to go big.

Our phase 1, 2 and 3 offshore wind plans are exactly the phasing to allow us to develop and use this. Phase 1 relates to the relevant projects on the east coast primarily feeding into Dublin Port and a new transmission system in Dublin used to power cars and heat our homes as well as run our data centres, our industry. We then move south and west in phase 2. It is not just those ports. We can look at Great Island and other locations.

It is possible to see that hybrid interconnection between offshore wind and onshore grid backed up by hydrogen power as a continual seamless indigenous secure energy system. It can also be exported through interconnectors, gas pipelines or the shipping of, for example, ammonia, as I mentioned. It is a balancing system because we will have a surplus with our wind power at the scale it is, our sea area being seven times our land area. Phase 3 is the 30 GW opportunity. That is why we need to transport it as part of a wider European energy security system. That is where we will go.

That strategy will not all be written in the next six months. It needs to be an iterative strategy. We need to learn by doing and learn from other countries. What the Portuguese and Dutch are doing at the moment is interesting. The British, Germans, Spanish and Swedes are all going in this direction. We can learn from our European colleagues. We must collaborate North-South and east-west. I agree with the Deputies on that.

See this speech in context