Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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44. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps that his Department is taking to develop offshore energy exploration off the west coast of Ireland given that priority appears to be given to the east coast at present despite the vast potential of the western seaboard with its higher proportion and scale of wind; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46733/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My Department is leading in delivering significant legislative, regulatory and policy developments to meet Ireland’s legally binding climate objectives and accelerate the deployment of offshore renewable energy.

The Government has committed to developing a longer-term plan to harness the estimated potential of at least 30GW of offshore floating wind power in our Atlantic waters. In this context, earlier this month, the European Union North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), which is currently co-chaired by Ireland, agreed a non-binding target of 260GW by 2050 for the EU's North Seas, with non-binding targets of 15-20GW by 2040 and 37GW by 2050 for Ireland. The Government has recently agreed to target the delivery of an additional 2GW of offshore wind dedicated to the production of green hydrogen. This is in addition to the existing 2030 target of 5GW of offshore wind energy from 5GW, as set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021, being developed to achieve our goal of up to 80% of electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030.

The early phases of the offshore energy development will be primarily located off our eastern and southern coasts reflecting the suitably shallower waters in these regions for deployment of fixed bottom wind turbines, the availability of electricity grid infrastructure capacity, and proximity to the largest demand centres. It is envisaged that advances in floating turbine technology will aid the cost-effective deployment of renewables in deeper waters off the west coast.

The Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act 2021 (enacted in December 2021) provides a legislative basis to harness the potential of offshore renewable energy outside the 12 nautical mile coastal zone provided for in the Foreshore Act (1933), while protecting our rich and unique marine environment. A consultation will shortly conclude on how the second batch of Offshore Renewable Energy projects (Phase Two) will be selected to enter the new consenting system. This includes a proposal to allow for an Innovation Category which may be of specific interest to developers of floating offshore wind energy designs.

A new Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDP II) will be published in early 2023. The OREDP II will assess Ireland’s offshore energy resource potential, including for floating wind off the west coast. It will provide an evidence base to identify areas most suitable for the sustainable development of fixed and floating wind, wave, and tidal technologies in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone, while also considering other maritime activities and marine biodiversity. The OREDP II will support the intended development of offshore wind energy off the Atlantic coast accordingly.