Minister Ryan announces €1 million offshore wind fund for Irish environmental research groups

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, today announced additional funding of €1.1 million for the Irish Environmental Network (IEN). The IEN is a network of environmental Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that work to protect and enhance the environment. The funding provided is in addition to annual funding the IEN receives from the department.

The funding will enable environmental NGOs actively involved in the marine environment sector, including Birdwatch Ireland, Coastwatch Ireland, Bat Conservation Ireland and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, to build their capacity and secure additional expertise in areas critical to the delivery of Ireland’s offshore wind ambitions. These areas include marine science and research, the offshore wind planning system, and public engagement.

Increasing the resources of environmental NGOs will make an important contribution towards achieving effective future maritime spatial planning within Ireland’s seas and oceans, and the establishment of a new ‘plan-led’ regime for offshore wind development. Under this plan-led approach, future offshore wind developments will be located in Designated Maritime Area Plans, or DMAPs, which have been established by the State, in cooperation with key stakeholders, including local communities, those involved in the fishing industry, and environmental NGOs. This will include the establishment of Ireland’s first offshore renewable energy DMAP, which will identify marine areas for future offshore wind projects off the south coast of Ireland. This includes marine areas suitable for deployment of offshore wind by 2030 and post-2030. The additional funding announced today will ensure that environmental NGOs can contribute towards the establishment of future DMAPs, through participation in periods of public consultation. This will include a forthcoming second period of public consultation for the South Coast DMAP scheduled for early 2024.

Commenting on the funding, from COP28, Minister Ryan said:

Welcoming the funding, Karen Ciesielski, CEO of the Irish Environmental Network, said:

Irish Environmental Network

The Irish Environmental Network is a network of individual environmental Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that work individually and, as appropriate, jointly to protect and enhance the environment, and to place environmental issues centre stage in Ireland and internationally. The IEN works to promote the interlinked principles of environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Ireland’s offshore wind ambitions

The Irish Government has been accelerating policy on renewable offshore wind energy. In mid-2021, the government launched the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF), which is Ireland’s first comprehensive marine spatial planning framework. The Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act 2021 was enacted in December 2021, which established a new licensing and development management regime in the maritime area, administered by a new Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), in conjunction with An Bord Pleanála, which is facilitating the development of offshore energy.

In 2022, the Maritime Area Consent (MAC) regime was established under the MAP Act 2021. Following a comprehensive assessment process, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications issued Maritime Area Consents (MACs) to seven offshore renewable energy projects in December 2021, which enabled these projects to begin their pre-planning application engagement with An Bord Pleanála and to participate in Ireland’s first offshore wind auction.

Ireland’s first offshore wind auction, ORESS 1, took place earlier this year and the results underscored the State’s ambitions within offshore renewable wind energy. The hugely-competitive price secured – at an average of €86.05/MWh (megawatt hour) – is one of the lowest prices paid by an emerging offshore wind market in the world. Over 3GW of capacity has been procured from four offshore wind projects under ORESS1, which will deliver over 12TWh (Terawatt hours) of renewable electricity per year. This is the largest volume of renewable energy Ireland has ever procured at auction. It is also enough to power over 2.5 million Irish homes with clean electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 1 million tonnes in 2030.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications chairs the Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce, which is coordinating the full range of activities required to maximise the economic benefits of offshore wind development to the State.

DMAPs (Designated Maritime Area Plans)

DMAPS will provide clarity on where future offshore actions will take place and act as a management plan for a specific area of our marine waters. The State’s first DMAP Proposal – the South Coast DMAP Proposal – was published in July 2023. What this process means in practice, is that the State, in cooperation with local communities and key stakeholders, and with consideration for other maritime activities including fishing and seafood production, will determine the appropriate location for offshore renewable energy developments. Further information about the DMAP is available at: gov.ie/SouthCoastDMAP.

Schedule of offshore wind auctions to 2030

Last month, as part of a co-ordinated launch with member countries of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), Ireland published a schedule of offshore wind auctions to 2030, totalling over 13GW of capacity to be deployed by 2040. This is in addition to the 3GW awarded in Ireland’s first offshore wind auction, ORESS 1, and exclusive to the maritime basins within the NSEC area (the Irish and Celtic Seas). Ireland’s total offshore wind target for 2040 (including the Atlantic basin) remains 20GW.

A draft Future Framework policy for post-2030 deployment of offshore wind will be published for consultation in January. A final version will be approved by Government and co-published with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind in March 2024.

Climate Action Plan 2023

Climate Action Plan 2023, launched in December 2022, is the second annual update to Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2019. This plan is the first to be prepared under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, and following the introduction of economy-wide Carbon Budgets and Sectoral Emissions Ceilings. Implementation of the Climate Action Plan will create jobs, new economic opportunities and protect people and the planet. You can access Climate Action Plan 2023 and its annex of actions on the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications website.

Ireland has now moved to a plan-led approach to deliver our offshore wind targets. The government is delivering our climate and energy ambitions for offshore wind energy through a number of overlapping phases:

• Phase One, which corresponds to the first offshore renewable electricity auction (ORESS 1)
• Phase Two, an accelerated work programme, focusing on near-term delivery based on technology with proven scalability in other jurisdictions and which will procure the additional offshore wind capacity required to meet Government’s 2030 target; and
• the fully plan-led Future Framework