From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan today told a delegation of European leaders that the delivery of offshore renewable energy and green hydrogen will be central to the EU's future growth and competitiveness.
Minister Ryan was speaking at the 2024 North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) Ministerial Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. NSEC member countries, including Ireland, are working towards the goal of delivering at least 300 gigawatts (GW) of offshore renewable energy by 2050. The North Seas area, with vast offshore wind resources, is considered uniquely positioned to lead in the development of offshore wind and renewable hydrogen.
The NSEC Ministers also put forward a series of recommendations to the new European Commission to help tackle challenges faced by the industry as it looks to deliver its offshore renewable energy ambitions. The EU recently entered a new institutional cycle and set out new political Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029.
The NSEC recommendations include: the need to ensure an integrated and well-functioning energy market across Europe; the establishment of a framework for common planning and to deliver benefits and share costs; solution to de-risk renewable energy and infrastructure projects; the need to strengthen European competitiveness and transparency in the value chain; options for developing offshore renewable hydrogen in the North Seas; and to ensure cooperation across the North Seas with all partners.
Last month, a report prepared by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on 'The Future of European Competitiveness', stated that to remain competitive, Europe must significantly increase its investment in key sectors, including energy innovation and infrastructure. The former European Central Bank President was tasked by the European Commission to prepare a report of his vision on the future of European competitiveness. The report highlighted that the EU’s general investment-to-GDP ratio needs to rise by 5% annually — levels not seen since the 1960s and 1970s — to meet decarbonisation and digitalisation needs.
Speaking as part of a NESC Ministerial panel discussion on offshore wind and renewable hydrogen, Minister Ryan said:
"NSEC is already working on much of the analysis contained within the Mario Draghi report on EU competitiveness, but it will be important to build out the financing of renewable energy across the EU, as was recommended in the report.
"To remain competitive on the global stage, it is necessary to ensure a rapid expansion of renewable energy and infrastructure, while leveraging the single market to its fullest extent. These concrete recommendations put forward today will ensure that the North Seas can serve as an important component if improving the EU’s clean industrial competitiveness.
"Despite difficult market conditions and challenges, the good news is that renewable energy capacity is at an all-time high in Europe and our capacity to generate renewable electricity is expanding faster than at any time in the last three decades – giving it a real chance of achieving the goal of tripling global capacity by 2030, which governments set at COP28.
"We also know the enormous potential which offshore renewable energy can deliver by way of green jobs across many parts of Europe. Offshore renewable energy and green hydrogen will play a central role in help European countries within the North Seas reach our climate target and decarbonising our societies."
A new multiannual work programme for 2025-2027 was also outlined at today’s NSEC Ministerial. The plan outlines activities under four existing NSEC support groups on the following topics: Hybrid and Joint Projects; Maritime Spatial Planning and Ecology; Support framework and finance, including coordinated long-term planning. An additionally a fifth support group will also be created this year, focusing on offshore renewable hydrogen in the North Seas.
ENDS
The North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) is a regional non-binding and voluntary EU cooperation framework which aims to advance development of offshore renewable energy in the geographical area of the North Seas, including the Irish and Celtic Seas. The NSEC is based on a political declaration adopted in 2016, with membership comprised of Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the European Commission.
The 2016 political declaration which established the NSEC emphasised the importance of voluntary cooperation, with the aim of securing a sustainable secure and affordable energy supply for the North Seas countries. An updated political declaration was signed in December 2021 to reflect the increased climate ambition contained in the European Green Deal. Ministers and the Commission reiterated their commitment that cooperation within the NSEC will be the framework for achieving their increased offshore ambitions. As part of their cooperation and coordination functions, members of the NSEC maintain an Offshore Wind Tender and Project Realisation Timetable, a database of planned offshore wind auctions in the North Seas region.
The Co-Presidency of the NSEC is held by the European Commission on a permanent basis and one NSEC member state for a rotating 12-month period. Ireland held this Co-Presidency role for 2022.
In this role during 2022 Ireland has sought to promote the following:
Climate Action Plan 2024 commits to achieving at least 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030. A further 2GW is earmarked for the production of green hydrogen and other non-grid uses. Ireland’s plan-led approach to delivering our offshore wind targets includes a number of overlapping phases:
*Phase One, which corresponds to all relevant projects that were successful in the first offshore renewable electricity auction (ORESS 1)
In May 2023, the results of Ireland’s first offshore wind auction, ORESS 1, underscored the State’s ambitions within offshore renewable energy. The highly competitive price secured – at an average of €86.05/MWh (megawatt hour) – was one of the lowest prices paid by an emerging offshore wind market in the world. Over 3GW of capacity was procured from four offshore wind projects under ORESS1, which will deliver over 12TWh (Terawatt hours) of renewable electricity per year. This was the largest volume of renewable energy Ireland has ever procured at auction, sufficient to power over 2.5 million Irish homes with clean electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 1 million tonnes by 2030.
The cross-government Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce was established by Minister Ryan to ensure a joined-up approach across government, agencies and industry in co-ordinating the full range of activities required to maximise the economic benefits of offshore wind development to the State. The Taskforce is involved in identifying all aspects of work on the critical path to delivery of offshore wind and proactively identifying risks and managing associated mitigation measures. The key actions for 2024 under the Taskforce’s Offshore Wind Energy Programme include measures relating to DMAPs and marine planning, biodiversity, grid connection, supply chain, ports policy, skills and workforce, and regulatory consenting.
Climate Action Plan 2024 was approved by government in December 2023, subject to public consultation and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The public consultation will open shortly. Climate Action Plan 2024 is the third annual update to Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2019. This plan is the second 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. The implementation of the Climate Action Plan will create jobs, new economic opportunities and protect people and the planet.
You can access Climate Action Plan 2024 and its annex of actions on the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications website. Subscribe to the Government of Ireland's Climate Action newsletter.