Press release
MARA launch marks major milestone for offshore energy development
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
The government has today (13 July 2023) officially launched the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), marking a significant milestone in the State's stewardship of the maritime area including plans for renewable offshore energy development.
The newly established authority will be responsible for regulating development and activity in Ireland’s maritime area and its role will include assessing applications for Maritime Area Consents (MACs), which are required before developers of offshore wind and other projects in the maritime area can make a planning application. It will also be responsible for granting licences for certain activities in the maritime area.
The establishment of MARA represents the beginning of phase two for Ireland's all-of-government approach to renewable offshore energy and will determine how we develop this valuable resource.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien, officially launched the new regulatory authority at an event in Rosslare Europort today, emphasising:
"With the launch of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority here in Rosslare today, we now begin the second phase of our all-of-government approach to the development of offshore renewable energy. Delivery of offshore renewable energy will be crucial as we strive towards our climate goals over the next few years and MARA will provide the regulation and clarity that this emerging industry needs and govern our extensive maritime resource and contribute to our nation’s sustainable future."
Chief Executive Officer of MARA, Laura Brien, added:
“Ireland has one of the highest sea-to-land ratios in Europe and today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in how Ireland will manage that resource. MARA’s remit is wide-ranging reflecting the diverse marine resource that we will steward for this generation and the ones to come. MARA is confident in our ability to support the governance of our maritime resources. In achieving this, we look forward to working with the wide range of stakeholders in the seafood, tourism, transportation as well as offshore renewable energy sectors to deliver on our role.”
Today also saw the launch of the first Designated Maritime Area Plan (DMAP) Proposal for Offshore Renewable Energy by Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan. This signals Ireland’s first step into the systemic, plan-led development of our huge off-shore wind potential.
DMAPS will determine the broad area where ORE projects can be developed, and will act as a management plan for a specific area of our marine waters.
This first ORE DMAP for the South Coast puts forward an initial ‘proposed’ geographical area within which future offshore renewable energy development may take place. This area will be refined through a process of public engagement and consultation, expert environmental impact assessments and other expert analysis of the maritime areas, to assess its suitability for offshore renewable energy development.
Following a period of public engagement, a ‘Draft DMAP’ (which is anticipated to encompass a significantly smaller footprint than the initially outlined in proposal) will be published. Following this, a further statutory public consultation will take place, before the Draft DMAP is presented to the Minister for Housing and both houses of the Oireachtas for approval.
Minister Ryan explained:
"Today marks the start of our new plan-led approach to the development of our off-shore wind industry, which was supported by both Houses of the Oireachtas. It also aligns us with the strategic direction being taken by the world’s leading off-shore wind countries like Denmark and Scotland. The rigorous legislative approach included within the South Coast DMAP Proposal will offer the best approach to protect local marine environments, fishing communities and boost local community development. It will offer comprehensive opportunities for public engagement, including the engagement of local communities.”
In addition, Minister Ryan today also announced a consultation on the principles for the design of offshore wind auctions under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS), under the government’s plan-led Phase Two policy. The ORESS 2 consultation process will seek the views of stakeholders on key design principles to help ensure ORESS 2 auctions are attractive to the offshore wind industry, deliver a route to market for significant amounts of clean renewable energy, and ensure value for money for electricity consumers. ORESS 2 auctions will be geographically aligned with available onshore grid capacity. Its first auction, ‘ORESS 2.1’, will see the development of offshore wind within an offshore renewable energy ‘designated Area’ - the South Coast DMAP. The consultation will run until Friday 25 August 2023, and it is expected that ORESS 2.1 will launch before the end of this year or early next year.
Minister Ryan pointed out:
"ORESS 2 is another hugely important step towards achieving our aim of delivering sustainable electricity for homes and businesses throughout Ireland. The success of our first offshore wind auction earlier this year (ORESS 1) highlighted Ireland’s enormous potential in the offshore renewables space. Both The South Coast DMAP Proposal and the ORESS 2 consultation process are important elements of our wider offshore renewables plan. As well as helping to meet our climate goals, these processes, along with subsequent offshore development, will have a transformational impact on regional communities and on sustainable jobs creation."
Ministers today also welcomed the recent completion of a Summary Guide document for engagement between the Seafood and Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) industries.
Led by the independent Chairmanship of Captain Robert McCabe, the Seafood/ORE Working Group was established by the government in May 2022 to facilitate discussion on matters arising from the interaction of the seafood and offshore renewable energy industries. The completed Summary Guide is intended to provide Offshore Renewable Energy projects and seafood stakeholders with guidance on how to engage and co-exist in a constructive manner throughout the lifecycle of an ORE Project. The publication of the communications guide document marks a significant milestone in the output of the group, which will continue to work on further priority objectives relevant to both industries over the coming year.
Seafood/ORE Working Group Chairman, Captain Robert McCabe:
"The completion of the summary guide document represents a significant achievement in the managed introduction of Offshore Renewable Energy into Ireland’s maritime area, and I wish to commend the considerable efforts of the working group over the past year in finalising a comprehensive engagement guide within a challenging timeframe."
In May, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, received government support to develop a National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind which will set out how Ireland can maximise the economic opportunity arising from the production of Offshore Wind Energy (OWE). The Strategy will be developed in consultation with the relevant government departments, agencies, and industry, with the objective of ensuring that Ireland fully captures the value of both the supply chain to deliver an OWE sector at scale, and the routes to market for this renewable energy. It is expected that the National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind will be published in Q1 2024 and complement the suite of upcoming government policies led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications through the Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce.
At today’s launch, Minister Coveney said:
"Together with my colleagues across Government, I am committed to creating the environment that will allow a burgeoning Offshore Wind industry to develop and thrive. The provision of abundant, competitively priced renewable energy can be a key strategic competitive advantage for Ireland’s future reflecting the ambition as set out in my department’s White Paper on Enterprise. On the path to that goal are a series of important policy, legislative, regulatory and infrastructural steps. Today marks one of those critical steps with the establishment of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) with its new Chief Executive Officer Laura Brien. I wish her and all her colleagues well in playing its central role for this new industry."
Ireland’s swift and nature-positive transition to renewable energy has also been aided by the publication today of a detailed map and notice of intention to designate a new Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EU Birds Directive for the protection of birdlife in the North-west Irish Sea. The new North-west Irish Sea SPA covers more than 230,000 hectares of important marine waters for a range of bird species throughout the year.
The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, or MARA, is a new state agency whose functions are set out in the Maritime Area Planning Acts 2021 and 2022. It will have a key role to play in the new streamlined consenting system for the maritime area, including:
MARA is a body under the aegis of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and is located in Wexford.
The establishment of DMAPs will take place according to an ecosystem-based approach, with full consideration for the protection of marine environment and biodiversity. Under Section 22 of the MAP Act, the Competent Authority is required to prepare a Draft DMAP based upon the DMAP Proposal and upon which must be carried out a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA). Additional requirements regarding the information to be included within a Draft DMAP are set out in Section 22 of the MAP Act. The MAP Act further requires that the Competent Authority publish the Draft DMAP and associated SEA and AA, to be followed by a period of statutory public consultation. The Competent Authority may or may not subsequently amend the Draft DMAP after taking into consideration the outcome of the public consultation, SEA and AA.
It is important to note that this Plan-Led system, with the State rather than proposed projects selecting appropriate development sites, is consistent with the approach to offshore wind development currently deployed throughout the EU. Practitioners of this Plan-Led approach to development site designation therefore includes the Netherlands and Denmark, which are arguably the two EU countries with the most mature offshore wind sectors.
This decision to situate Ireland’s first offshore renewable energy DMAP off the South Coast reflects analysis carried out by Ireland’s transmission system operator, EirGrid, that there is sufficient current available onshore grid capacity to connect 900 MW of offshore wind capacity to the onshore transmission system along the South Coast. The establishment of a South Coast DMAP will therefore ensure that future offshore wind development is situated in proximity to the current availability of onshore grid capacity that will connect offshore wind generation to the onshore transmission system.
The National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF)was adopted by Government in May 2021 as Ireland’s first statutory maritime spatial plan. This framework applies to a maritime area of approximately 495,000 square kilometres and brings together all marine-based human activities for the first time, outlining the government’s vision, objectives and marine planning policies for each marine activity.
A key objective of the NMPF is to ensure that future developments in Ireland’s maritime area take place in a sustainable and strategic way, with consideration for environmental protection and comprehensive opportunities for public engagement, most importantly including the engagement of local communities. This approach will ensure that all future developments in Ireland’s increasingly congested maritime area are appropriately located, and take place with consideration for existing maritime activities, in addition to prioritising environmental protection. Where possible, this approach will further enable the co-existence of different maritime usages and activities.
To safeguard these objectives, the NMPF commits Government to the use of sub-national forward spatial planning through the establishment of Designated Maritime Area Plans or DMAPs. Provisions for the use of forward spatial planning and the establishment of DMAPs have been subsequently provided for in national legislation through the MAP Act.
ORESS 2.1 will take place as part of the government’s Phase Two policy for offshore wind development. Phase Two is an accelerated work programme focusing on near-term delivery based on technology with proven scalability in other jurisdictions which will procure the additional offshore wind capacity required to meet Government’s 2030 targets of at least 5GW off offshore wind installed by 2030 and 80% of electricity demand generated from renewable resources by 2030.
All subsequent Phase Two auctions, will result in the development of offshore wind capacity within ‘Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Designated Areas’. These Areas, which will be designated according to legislative provisions for Designated Maritime Area Plans (DMAPs) in the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Act, will guide investment and decision-making and will complement the forthcoming network of Marine Protected Areas. This plan-led approach will ensure that development is managed in a planned, strategic and sustainable way. Importantly, it will provide greater certainty for all maritime users as to where development will be situated.
In each ORESS 2 auction (for example, ORESS 2.1 and then ORESS 2.2), bidders will compete to develop a State-selected site within a DMAP that has designated onshore or offshore connection point(s). There will be a single successful participant in each ORESS 2 auction.