Thanks to the The Irish Times for this very fair article and it was a pleasure to discuss the unparalleled opportunities for Ireland with Kevin O'Sullivan last week. The Shannon Estuary Taskforce, at the request of the government, gave over 5,000 hours of their personal time to work on this and other opportunities. The then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ministers Eamon Ryan, Simon Coveney, Norma Foley, all with truly inspirational words, launched our report last July including a Plan, agreed by all Stakeholders, to harvest power from Atlantic wind by 2032. One part of that plan requires investment in the 2 deep water ports of the Shannon Estuary, just like the investments that are now underway in many countries in Europe. Minister Ryan was very clear at recent IEA conference in Paris that governments need to ‘get out of the way’ and let industry get on with the work. https://lnkd.in/esXxAas8 We note government support for our State energy company ESB in its efforts to develop 2 floating wind farms for the benefit of the Scottish economy in the last several years. Just like the other developers, ESB have made no progress here on building floating wind farms, despite the need. Our new Taoiseach, Simon Harris has promised ‘a new energy’ for his tenure as leader of our government and has appointed a new generation of Ministers. Let us hope now that this government will show the vision and leadership of the first government of this State who built Ardnacrusha, the world’s largest hydroelectric plant in its day, a century ago. Today, the risk is beyond miniscule for a government spending €110 billion this year, but the rewards over the next century will be orders greater. Power from floating wind @ 10m/s will be equivalent in cost to fixed by 2035. We have 14 m/s wind speeds in the Atlantic, and as power is proportional to the cube of wind speed, 14 is 2.7 times better than 10! In this increasingly digital world, the countries that can offer large amounts of green energy to society will win, and we are already 5 years behind our neighbours. We eagerly await the new energy of this administration. The Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce plans are ready.
Big offshore ambitions require big thinking. Kevin O'Sullivan's article profiles Denmark's Esbjerg port and how even it struggles to keep up with the scaling of the offshore wind energy industry. In Ireland we have espoused ambitious plans for offshore wind, but without the policy clarity on how our grids and port infrastructure can match that ambition. Yesterday's inaugural speech by our new Taoiseach Simon Harris was understandably short-term in scope, but we will quickly need Government and new Enterprise Minister Peter Burke to set out how we achieve not just 2030 targets, but what our energy industry will look like in 2050 and 2060. Port infrastructure will be critical, as already outlined by industry leaders like Barry O'Sullivan. 20 MW wind turbines are coming, and we will need to get organised to handle them. Wind Energy Ireland #renewableenergy #offshorewind https://lnkd.in/e_GAd--D
Dermot Hughes
11mo
To borrow the lines from a few old songs; a big part of the answer(s) is clearly blowin’ in the wind, but will the new winds of change make much difference.
Seamus Hunt
11mo
Well said Barry. I hope we take this opportunity quickly.
Vice President Research, Development & Innovation at TUS
11moHopefully logic will prevail and the recommendations of the task force will be implemented. Let's not leave this opportunity behind.