David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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94. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will outline the way his Department is supporting the development of offshore floating wind power generation; his ambitions for same, including timescales for the stages of development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9926/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The 2020 Programme for Government committed to a target of 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity in Ireland’s maritime area by 2030 and made a commitment to develop at least 30GW floating wind beyond 2030.

In addition, in 2022, the Government agreed to target the delivery of an additional 2GW of offshore wind for the production of green hydrogen in order to create the necessary environment to develop a floating energy and hydrogen industry.

The Government is delivering on our climate and energy ambitions for offshore wind energy through a number of phased developments. The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan II (OREDPII), which is now open for public consultation, is one of the building blocks for developing the enduring regime for offshore renewable energy. This is the long-term vision for how the State will develop on our significant renewable energy potential to deliver benefits for all beyond the immediate 2030 targets. The OREDP II sets out the spatial strategy as to how we will go about identifying the best locations for renewable energy technologies. This includes the potential for floating wind energy in our deeper waters. The maritime area is a shared space and so identification of these areas will be carried out in consultation with all maritime stakeholders.

Other elements of work underway will also inform the development of policy for the enduring or long-term regime for offshore renewable energy. This includes the development of Hydrogen Policy, Interconnector Policy and economic assessments, which are all in development. A draft policy on the Enduring Regime will be ready for consultation by the end of the year.