Simon Coveney Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has announced a National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind, to be published in early 2024. This is a highly significant step for Ireland to progress its ambitious renewable energy targets – 5GW of offshore by 2030 and at least 37GW by 2050.
John Fitzgerald, SuperNode CEO, expressed his strong support for the government’s initiative, stating, “Strategic intent from the state and its agencies is critical and a National Industrial Plan for Offshore Wind can have a significant impact. Ireland has the best wind resources in the EU. Central to our ability to turn that comparative advantage into a competitive advantage for Ireland is improved interconnection using better, more powerful transmission technology. Ireland can lead that technology development. There is a huge opportunity for us to improve our energy security, meet our energy demands and become an energy exporter by developing innovative technologies, such as superconducting transmission cables. This is a non-inevitable one-off transition opportunity for Ireland’s superior renewable resources to supply the energy demands of Europe.”
The government has set highly ambitious renewable energy targets to achieve its climate goals but targets must be followed by substantive action. As Minister Ryan states: “an Industrial Strategy can provide a clear signal to international markets that across government and indeed across Ireland; we are serious about this opportunity”. The Industrial Strategy should also enable 3 of the 6 stated ambitions that will define the Government’s term in office, as outlined in Leo Varadkar’s opening speech as Taoiseach: 1) ‘Energy independence by harnessing untapped renewable energy’ 2) ‘Taming inflation’ and 3) ‘balanced regional development’.
The announcement briefly outlines the scope of the strategy in 4 points, one of which is ‘an integrated spatial and economic framework for the development of clusters of economic activity in locations critical to the development of the offshore wind sector’.
SuperNode strongly believes in the importance of these economic clusters which can enable Ireland to become a hub for developing innovative technologies and manufacturing, says Fitzgerald: “Ireland has an opportunity to become a hub for innovative grid technologies such as SuperNode’s superconducting transmission cables. Ireland’s offshore resource far exceeds its demand, and so if Ireland is to fully capitalise on this opportunity, it must develop grid infrastructure and grid technology capable of transmitting very large amounts of power from the windy Atlantic to European demand centres, with Ireland acting as a crucial part of an interconnected Pan-European grid.”
Scotland undertook a similar strategy in 2010 and has developed strategic hubs for both onshore and offshore renewable generation, grid technologies and storage. Scotland is now a world leader in renewables and offshore wind with 99% of electricity used in 2020 generated from renewable sources. This shows the huge potential for Ireland – in terms of energy independence, economic growth and employment – but also the danger of losing out on this opportunity to competitors.
You can view the full announcement from Minister Coveney here.