Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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9. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps that are being taken to promote the use of wind energy in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36356/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is one of the major Government policies to help deliver on the ambition in the Climate Action Plan 2021 of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030 including an increased target of up to 5 GW of offshore wind and 8 GW from onshore wind. The RESS is an auction-based support scheme which invites grid-scale renewable electricity generation projects to compete to receive a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate.

Approximately 1.4 TWh of new onshore wind generation annually was secured in the first RESS auction in 2020. Three wind projects are now in commercial operation with the remainder expected to reach commercial operation before the end of 2023 at latest. The recent second RESS auction has secured a further estimated 1.2 TWh of renewable wind generation to deliver by the end of 2024. A roadmap of future auctions which sets out the indicative timelines and volumes for onshore and offshore auctions over the coming decade, was published in December 2021.

In addition, my Department is working with colleagues across Government at national, regional and local level to deliver a supportive spatial planning framework for the further development of onshore renewable energy technologies, including onshore wind, as set out under Action 102 of the Climate Action Plan 2021 and Response 25 of the National Energy Security Framework to align all elements of the planning system to fully support accelerated renewable energy development.

The Climate Action Plan 2021 includes a suite of specific actions to realise the potential of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy potential. The Programme for Government commits to the achievement of 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 and to producing a long-term plan to take advantage of a potential of at least 30GW of floating wind thereafter.

At least three ORESS offshore auctions are currently planned for this decade. My Department carried out a public consultation on the Terms and Conditions of the first offshore RESS auction (ORESS 1) in late 2021 and a provisional ORESS 1 Auction calendar was published in June 2022. In addition, a further phase of offshore wind projects (Phase 2) is required to meet our targets, comprised of projects which can deliver by 2030. The Department is currently reviewing submissions on a recent consultation to gather views on the scale, make-up and sequencing of Phase 2.

Achieving the target of up to 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources will entail investment of tens of billions of euro, including in the installation and maintenance of generation assets, and associated infrastructure and services, as well as in the development of supply chains and port infrastructure.