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All European coastal countries are pursuing floating offshore wind, except Ireland – as reported by The Irish Times.

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  • All European coastal countries are pursuing floating offshore wind, except Ireland – as reported by The Irish Times.

The Government is making a fundamental policy error in not backing near term development of floating offshore wind farms, according to Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce (SEETF) chairman Barry O’Sullivan. A decision to effectively hold off on supporting use of floating technology until the 2030s by Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan and his Department of Environment, Climate and Communications not only misses out on immense opportunity but threatens future foreign direct investment “and is going to put our existing economic base at risk”, warns the former IDA board member. This coincides with many European countries scaling up floating offshore and port development and “continued concern for the existing Irish industrial base due to a lack of affordable clean power in this increasing digital age”.

The taskforce was commissioned by the Government to assess future development of the Shannon estuary while exploiting renewables off the west coast. Stakeholders including offshore developers worked within the department and the Department of Enterprise and Employment officials producing the report on “how to harvest Atlantic wind by 2032”. It recommends investment in the estuary’s two deepwater ports. It calls for a Designated Maritime Area Plan (DMAP) for the west to flag where floating wind farms could be located; the creation of a “national floating offshore wind development agency” (a one-stop-shop to oversee delivery), and IDA Ireland funding to establish nearby ECO energy hubs. At its launch last July, then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the plan was visionary and acknowledged the region’s potential as a leader in “building new industries, producing green fertiliser, producing sustainable aviation fuels, powering the nation and also creating power for exports”.

Meanwhile, Ryan said: “The estuary has the capacity to rebalance the national economy and be an answer to climate change.” O’Sullivan, whose background is in manufacturing at multinational level, notably with Johnson & Johnson, adds: “We did our launch in July. Everybody was happy … I thought our job was done.” Engagement with senior department officials had been intense and detailed though some bumps did surface. In February 2023 when the department was working …