Consensus has formed that we need a meshed offshore grid to enable the decarbonisation of Europe with renewables. Ireland has the EU’s best offshore renewable energy resources and should take a proactive leadership role in shaping Europe’s Energy Future. There is a one-time, generational opportunity to serve Europe’s renewable energy needs, develop our renewable industry and create sustainable indigenous jobs/revenue with more balanced regional development.
Eamon Ryan, Minister for Climate, Environment and Communications, last year stated:
“Due to our location at the edge of the Atlantic, with a sea area of 490,000 square kilometres – almost seven times our land mass – we have considerable but as yet undeveloped offshore renewable energy potential. As technologies develop, Ireland has the resource potential to become a major contributor in a pan-European renewable energy and transmission system”.
Ireland is gifted with rich wind resources, especially offshore, but if we are to reap the commercial, industrial and environmental benefits, we must forge deep connections with the European energy market and become an energy exporter.
Ireland has a target to install 5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 with the ‘Programme for Government’ declaring an intention to produce a longer-term plan that:
“will set out how Ireland can become a major contributor to a pan-European renewable energy generation and transmission system, taking advantage of a potential 30 GW of offshore floating wind power”.
Ireland has displayed a disappointing level of intent and ambition to realise such an opportunity thus far. In contrast, Scotland who produced 97.4% of its electricity from renewables in 2020 with an installed capacity of 12 GW have just auctioned 8,600 km² of seabed to host another 25 GW of offshore wind.
Ireland has all the capabilities necessary, from the renewable resources to the expertise in engineering and technical innovation, to lead the way on renewable infrastructure and the development of a pan-European energy system.
Engineers Ireland released a report titled: The State of Ireland 2021: Infrastructure and a digital future, in December 2021 echoing this sentiment. At its publication, Damien Owens, Registrar at Engineers Ireland said:
“Ireland should play a vital European Leadership role in creating the smart grid of the future, in effect, a ‘Supergrid’, to drive renewable power…now is the time for Ireland to drive forward by expanding the capacity of our interconnectors and green energy networks to help future proof national and European energy requirements.”
A European Supergrid
Greater connectivity across borders is a prerequisite to enable a continent like Europe to run on a renewable (weather-based) energy system. The European Commission’s own 1.5 TECH scenario predicts Europe will need more than 2,200 GW of wind and solar power alone by 2050 (up from the 472 GW of wind and solar installed by 2020). This level of renewables requires a completely new energy system designed around the specific characteristics of renewable energy. The current fossil-based, nationalistic approach will not work. If we continue to install renewables at this pace without significantly adapting our transmission systems and upgrading our infrastructure, Europe’s grids will be unfit for purpose beyond 2030. This will undermine confidence and delay the delivery of new renewables, costing time and money we can ill afford.
In order to break from this trajectory, an intelligent, coordinated, long-term approach to continental grid planning is required, in the form of a Supergrid. A Supergrid would connect the best renewable sources, most often located at the peripheries, to the demand centres across Europe through a meshed, interconnected grid that is large enough to manage the variability of the weather. This would reduce the wasteful curtailment of renewable energy and create an efficient, resilient, carbon-free energy system.
Preparation for a Supergrid should begin as soon as possible. For Europe to decarbonise its economy before 2050, as agreed by all EU countries, electricity needs to be CO2-free before 2040. In infrastructure cycles this is the short-term and 90% of the renewable generation and infrastructure we will need is yet to be built. This is particularly evident in the offshore space, where minimal grid infrastructure currently exists, and aptly applies to Ireland with its undeveloped offshore wind potential.
Ireland has already begun its interconnection with Europe and should prioritise increasing this capacity. Ireland with its already world leading onshore wind production (percentage of electricity generation) and its vast offshore wind potential should be firmly behind a European Supergrid. EirGrid’s website states:
“A fully integrated energy market will help the EU to achieve its energy policy and climate objectives of affordable, secure and sustainable energy for all citizens”
A European Supergrid powered by renewable energy will benefit all European consumers as well as the climate. However, if Ireland moves quickly and seizes the opportunity presented, we can achieve more than just energy security, we can become a renewable energy major and a cornerstone of a decarbonised Europe