Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 95 together.

Under the Climate Action Plan 2023, the Government has committed to achieving at least 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030, representing the first steps in achieving a long-term plan, set out in the Programme for Government, to take advantage of a potential of at least 30GW of floating wind post-2030.

The Government’s approach to the development of offshore wind in Ireland, including on the west coast, involves several workstreams which are underway simultaneously:

• Phase One, which corresponds to the first offshore renewable electricity auction (ORESS 1), for delivery by 2030;
• Phase Two, which involves an accelerated work programme for the delivery of 5GW by 2030, as established by the Phase Two Policy Statement;
• Phase Three, which targets an additional 2GW of floating wind capacity to be in development by 2030, and
• the Future Framework for offshore wind post-2030.

The Phase One projects, which will be the first batch of projects to progress through the planning process and offshore auctions, will deploy fixed-bottom technology, with the majority of these Phase One projects on the east coast and one on the west coast. The combined capacity of all Phase One projects is approximately 4.4GW. However, some Phase One projects may fail to secure a route to market or a development consent. As a result, Phase Two projects will make up the balance to meet the 2030 target.

Fixed-bottom wind turbines are the only proven offshore wind technology currently in operation at scale in any jurisdiction around the world. Because of this, most of Ireland’s proposed offshore wind farms for this decade will utilise this technology. Given this, in the initial years of our offshore energy sectoral development in Ireland, our objective will be achieved through the deployment of this technology.

Floating wind is a developing technology, and I am fully committed to a longer-term plan that will enable the siting of floating wind turbines in our southern and western maritime area pending technological developments. Through the work currently being carried out on the draft update to the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (OREDPII), my Department is preparing for this well ahead of time and over the next few years we will build a framework of plans to support and develop this unique opportunity for Ireland.

The development of offshore wind across all phases is co-ordinated by the inter-departmental, inter-agency, Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce, chaired by my department, to drive a whole of government mobilisation of the economy towards offshore wind.