From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has opened a consultation on the first auction to supply electricity from offshore wind under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS 1).
The first offshore auction will be a major step towards meeting the Government’s goals of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030, with 5GW coming from offshore wind. It will also support achievement of the objectives set out under the Climate Action Bill and the measures set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021.
The aim of this targeted consultation is to engage stakeholders and gather feedback on aspects of the Terms and Conditions to ensure the efficient and economical delivery of renewable electricity projects under ORESS 1. Views are being sought from all interested parties.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, said:
“I welcome the publication of the draft Terms and Conditions of the first Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS 1) for consultation. The growth of Offshore wind energy will play a major role in securing a supply of sustainable electricity for homes and businesses all over Ireland and will allow us to electrify sectors such as heat and transport. It will also play a key role in meeting our climate goals – to reduce overall emissions by 51% by 2030 and to reach ‘net zero’ by 2050.”
The RESS provides support to renewable electricity projects in Ireland. With a primary focus on cost effectiveness, the RESS delivers a broad range of policy objectives, including:
Renewable electricity is a central element of our actions on climate disruption and delivering a ‘renewables revolution’, as set out in the Programme for Government. The RESS ensures that we are on a pathway to meet our ambitious climate targets. It lays the foundations of a thriving and cost effective renewable electricity market. This will support the growth of the green economy, create sustainable work opportunities and will ultimately benefit the consumer as renewables become more cost effective.
Further information can be found here. The closing time and date is 5:30pm on Monday, 6th December 2021.
ENDS
Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources in the world with a sea area of 490,000km2 (square kilometres) – approximately 7 times the size of our landmass. Because of Ireland’s location at the Atlantic edge of Europe, we have more offshore energy potential than most other EU Member States. Ireland’s coast is one of the most energy productive in Europe, with a long-term potential of 70GW of ocean energy opportunity (wind, wave and tidal) within 100km of the Irish coastline.
The Climate Action Plan includes a suite of actions to realise the potential of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy (ORE) potential, while the Programme for Government commits to the achievement of 5GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 and a long-term plan to take advantage of a potential of at least 30GW of floating wind thereafter.
Enactment of the Maritime Area Planning (MAP) Bill will provide the legislative underpinning and flexibility to allow Ireland to move, in a phased manner, from the current decentralised regime towards a more centralised, plan-led regime in line with the framework established for marine spatial planning.
DECC has published draft terms and conditions for the first offshore wind-specific auction under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS). Owing to the specific scale and nature of typical offshore wind farms, dedicated auctions are initially required to support the longer-term potential of this technology in Ireland. This approach, along with the RESS scheme itself, received state aid clearance in July 2020.
At least three offshore auctions are currently planned. Due to the relatively long development timelines of offshore wind projects, only the first two of these auctions can be expected to contribute towards our 2030 5GW installed capacity target.
A number of milestones are required before the launch of the first offshore wind auction (ORESS 1); namely, the enactment of the MAP Bill, the commencement of relevant secondary legislation, the establishment of a Maritime Area Consent (MAC) process and the issuing of MACs to Phase One offshore projects. Additionally, an offshore grid connection assessment process must be established; this is being progressed by the CRU (Commission for Regulation of Utilities) in tandem with the ORESS 1 terms and conditions development.