Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the main barriers on the route to market facing the renewable energy industry in its efforts to increase the amount of renewable energy available to Ireland; the steps being taken by the Government to remove these barriers expeditiously; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55036/22]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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At COP27 the Taoiseach said, "Let us not waste a second more". In that regard, the barriers on the route to market in terms of the renewable energy industry are massive. What is the Government doing to remove the barriers so that we get a much quicker route to market in a comprehensive way so that we can get the renewable energy we need into play?

In order to fully realise the potential and provide a competitive route to market for a strong pipeline of renewable energy projects, the Government is tackling barriers, exactly as the Deputy suggested, across our planning, grid-development and financing systems to better support the timely delivery of additional renewable energy sources and the required supporting infrastructure. Under action 102 of the climate action plan 2021, several measures are being undertaken to enable the delivery of a more comprehensive and consistent spatial planning policy approach for renewable energy development at regional and local levels.

My Department is currently developing a policy framework that would set targets for onshore renewable electricity capacity, that should be planned for on a national and regional level, with which regional strategies and the county development plans will be required to be consistent. EirGrid is currently updating its Shaping Our Electricity Future infrastructure roadmap to reflect increasing ambition, including the sectoral emissions ceilings and the target of up to 80% renewables on the grid by 2030.

The renewable electricity support scheme is Government's primary policy for the delivery of renewable electricity. Ireland is now at more than 5 GW of onshore renewables with approximately 700 MW to be connected this year, which will make 2022 a record year for new renewable generation. Ireland is third in the world for its share of electricity provided by onshore wind and this year, the first large-scale solar projects are now generating power.

In the offshore sector, I am concluding the process of assessing the maritime area consent applications from Ireland's first phase of offshore renewable energy projects. The projects can then start engagement with An Bord Pleanála before submitting applications for development consent. The first offshore renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, auction will launch before the end of this year.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I hear about strategies and plans but I do not see the grid being built or the offshore wind being provided. Does the Minister agree we need to shorten the route to market with regard to offshore wind planning in the provision of grid infrastructure and the development of the ports? It is no good having all of these policies if we do not do the things that those policies should lead to. Does he agree we need to shorten the route between having green hydrogen and producing green hydrogen, in making sure that we invest some of the windfall profits coming from the hi-tech corporation tax sector in Irish ownership of the grid and invest in offshore industry in order that returns come back to Ireland and in the connectivity to Europe and the UK? We will produce surplus energy that we could sell to make this country wealthy. What will the Minister do to make these things happen on the ground? All I hear is about plans and strategies but I do not see it happening in the ground.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I hope the Deputy will see real change occurring in the coming weeks. I was in Tarbert last week subsequent to a visit to Shannon-Foynes Port. I could talk about the Sceirde Rocks project in Connemara or the plans in Galway but I will take the Shannon Estuary as an example. A very significant report has been commissioned from Bechtel to look at the potential in the Shannon Estuary. I had a meeting with the Shannon Estuary economic task force and I believe we are all ad idemwith the sense of the opportunity. It is an opportunity on a considerable scale and not without its challenges. We have to get environmental and public support for it but there is potential for development in the Shannon Estuary with Money Point and Tarbert on either side, a fantastic grid connection and sites that are ideally suited for new power generation, green hydrogen or other infrastructure developments. Shannon-Foynes Port is a deep-water port with an island right beside it which could be a good place for the development with regard to the construction, assembly and formation of these new offshore turbines. There are locations in the estuary where we would look to store them in response to getting the weather opportunity to go out to the Atlantic. This is real. The Government is 100% committed to it and we will deliver.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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When will we see wind turbines in the Irish Sea which is the easiest place to put offshore energy at the moment or where there has been most advancement? When will we see turbines turning and producing electricity? All of these strategies and plans will not produce electricity. What will produce it are turbines connected to the grid. A recent reported stated that there was only one port in Ireland, in Belfast, fit to service this industry. When will we get a ports policy for the offshore wind industry? Is all of the coast relevant to this? The Minister mentioned Sceirde Rocks. Will the west coast of Ireland be covered by this ports policy?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My own county of Mayo has abundant renewable energy resources, including the potential for a further 2 GW of onshore wind which is deliverable in the short term. We are ideally placed to become a national renewable energy and hydrogen hub. We are, however, aware that this opportunity is time limited. It will certainly pass us by if essential policy drivers are not delivered with urgency. The Minister's Department invited submissions to the consultation on the delivery of a hydrogen strategy for Ireland in July this year. It is a welcome step which is long overdue. When does the Minister plan to publish the national green hydrogen strategy which is an urgent step to allow us to unlock the potential of this new industry for Ireland? What incentives and financial supports does the Minister propose to include in this strategy to assist the development of a sustainable green-hydrogen industry on this island?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We are engaged in a support process on onshore renewables. The Deputy is right in that we will need further onshore wind and solar energy, batteries, pump storage and a range of other solutions as we transition to this zero-carbon, stable, secure and lower-cost energy system for our people. The RESS auctions systems will continue. We have done two of them. The third will come up and we have learned lessons from the first two. In the coming weeks, if not days, we will be setting out the renewable support scheme which we will use for offshore energy. There is a potential project in Sceirde Rocks or on the east coast. We are competing, as the Deputy says, with the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. There is a long as one's arm of countries with a similar ambition. Thus, we need to be quick.

The expectation is that our auction system will start before the end of this year and conclude in spring or summer of next year. The planning system then has to engage. The timeline that will take is the key unknown in answer to Deputy Ó Cuív's question but if it was concluded and projects then ready for contracting early or in mid-2024, construction would start in the period 2025 to 2026. It is in that sort of timeframe we need to deliver. While we are doing that, there are other projects onshore that we also need to deliver.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are out of time. The Minister might be able to come back in on a different question.