Statkraft believes that an offshore wind farm built in the North Irish Sea will bring considerable benefits. The wind in this area holds a source of energy that can deliver a very real and lasting difference to our society, accelerate Ireland’s fight against climate change and transition to a carbon-neutral economy.

NISA has the potential to deliver clean green renewable energy to approximately 500,000 houses and as such deliver very significant climate action.

Preventing future fines

Ireland currently owes €150,000,000 in fines for not meeting its 2020 EU climate targets. In 2030 Ireland will be judged against more climate targets and face the possibility of further fines if the situation has not improved. If we want to avoid further fines in 2030, then Ireland must decarbonise its economy and do it quickly. One way of achieving this is to remove our reliance on fossil fuels for producing electricity and convert to renewable sources. Wind energy is our largest and cheapest resource in terms of producing renewable energy.

Each wind energy project that is developed contributes to our climate change targets and reduces the fines that we will be incurred. In 2018, wind energy accounted for 30% of the total electricity demand in the country. It is clear that wind energy offers Ireland the most effective means of reaching our renewable energy targets.

Despite the fact that wind energy saved Ireland €226,000,000 saved in fossil fuel imports in 2017, a far greater amount than the fines to be incurred, the fines that we are facing are not something that we as a country need to suffer. We believe that Ireland is well placed to continue its drive for more renewable energy, meet our targets for 2030 and, as a consequence, eliminate all potential fines.

Energy security

Ireland has one of the best wind resources in the world and we have the capacity to harness this energy, yet we remain heavily dependent on importing expensive and polluting fossil fuels.

SEAI figures for 2017 show that Wind Energy saved Ireland:

• €226 Million euro in fossil fuel imports
• 1 Million Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (Mtoe)
• 7 Million Tonnes of CO2 (MtCO₂)

With more renewable energy coming on stream we are well on the way to improving our self-sufficiency and more importantly the security of supply. We believe this is a very important goal for the country and could eventually leave us independent of all potential foreign supply disruptions. This would give Ireland more freedom to control the price of the electricity it produces, react more efficiently to demands from the grid and even allow us to potentially export our own energy for profit.

Clean Energy

In 2017, approximately 24% of Irish electricity was generated by wind energy. In 2018, this increased to approximately 30%. In the first quarter of 2019 figures show that almost 37% of our electricity was generated by wind energy. The ambition is to increase renewable energy on the Irish grid system to 70% by 2030.

The more renewable energy that we develop in Ireland the greater the financial and carbon savings we will achieve. It will in turn lower our contribution to global warming, working towards avoiding the catastrophic natural consequences that will incur if we let the global temperature rise.

Our expertise in renewable energies, alongside the rapid advances in technology, has meant that we are able to avoid many of the perceived concerns of offshore wind, making sure our wind farms produce clean, reliable energy at all times.

Maximising weather dependant renewable energy resources

Wind energy is Ireland’s most abundant renewable energy resource however, as with most renewable energy resources, the energy source itself, is variable. In the case of solar energy, solar panels generate electricity during the day but not at night. In the case of wind, wind speeds vary. A misconception can be that it needs to be ‘windy’ for wind turbines to produce electricity.

Modern wind turbines are designed to produce electricity even at very low wind speeds and as such it does not need to be ‘windy’ to produce the energy we need. One of the advantages that offshore wind energy offers is that wind speeds at sea tend to be more constant than onshore and therefore offshore wind turbines are extremely effective at generating electricity.

Smarter use of grid capacity by Eirgrid means renewable energy (mainly wind energy) is playing an increasing role in the electricity generation mix. Advances in battery storage technology also mean that excess wind energy can be stored for use for periods when the grid requires it. These factors, as part of the renewable energy mix discussed below, have led Ireland to reach record levels of over 66% of renewable energy on the electricity grid system at any one time. Technology in terms of both generation and the grid are continually advancing and it is these advances that have allowed Ireland to confidently set a target of having 70% of our electricity generated from renewable resources by 2030.

In the context of a 21^st century Ireland, we may be challenged to ask ourselves if it makes sense to pay for the vast majority of our energy, to come from oil and gas wells, drilled in foreign countries and transported across continents, only to be burned in our country, knowingly causing long-lasting harmful effects to our climate and air quality. The relevance of this question is all the greater when you consider that we have an abundant, clean energy source, right on our doorstep.

NISA can play an integral role in the development of the alternative energy system that Ireland requires. It has the capacity to provide clean, green, locally generated electricity to our homes and businesses. In real terms, NISA could provide all of the current electricity requirements, to approximately 500,000 households in the local area. With this proposal in place, each time that you would boil your kettle and each time that you would turn on a light, the electricity would be provided from a clean and green renewable energy resource, and not sourced from fossil fuels.

In the coming years, Ireland (along with most of the rest of the world) is going to be working towards increasing the electrification of its heating and transport sectors. What this will mean for our homes is that many people will be moving away from burning oil and coal etc for heating and using electricity-based solutions such as heat pumps instead. Likewise, in transport, most manufacturers are moving towards electric vehicles (EVs) and it is predicted that EVs will become mainstream in the near future. This would all be pointless if our electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels.

The vision that has been evolving of how a 21^st century Ireland powers itself, is based on the principle of harnessing our natural resources. NISA offers a unique opportunity to provide the clean, green electricity that will not only allow us to provide the power that we require, but to also make a real difference in terms of delivering effective climate action.

In order to tackle climate change and the challenges that we face, we need to develop a mix of renewable energy on our electricity grid system. The various types of renewable technologies all have their advantages and disadvantages but together, coupled with energy storage facilities and grid stabilising services, it is possible to create a sustainable and green electricity system that would ultimately eliminate the requirement for fossil fuels.

Ireland, being situated on the edge of the Atlantic, has a world-class wind energy resource. Wind is a free and natural renewable resource and, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland’s website, it is both the largest and cheapest renewable electricity resource available to us. In 2018 wind energy accounted for 30% of our total electricity demand and was the second largest source of electricity generation after natural gas. The Programme for Government aims to have 70% of our electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030. Offshore wind will play its part alongside onshore wind, solar power and biofuels to power Ireland and will be assisted by the technological developments in energy storage and conversion that are being made.