Chambers Ireland expresses grave concerns about the ambition of the Offshore Energy Plan
Chambers Ireland expresses grave concerns about the ambition of the Offshore Energy Plan
With the closing of the consultation on the draft Offshore Renewable Energy Development plan II Chambers Ireland is expressing its concerns that the Draft plan, if implemented in this form, will make achieving our 2030 decarbonisation goals almost impossible.
- Our chief concerns are that there is a lack of integration between the ambitions of our green energy targets and the policies that are being framed in the Draft Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan II for their delivery.
- The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan II is too conservative in its ambition that it is likely to prevent our state from successfully achieving our 2030 Climate targets.
- We have grave concerns about the institutional capacity of the department and planning agencies when it comes to facilitating projects that can help us meet our targets within the timelines that are needed to meet these targets.
- The conservative approach which this draft plan is taking towards the technologies that are appropriate for Irish waters is likely to do further reputational damage to Ireland.
- The draft plan will act as another institutional bottleneck that will further delay the development of an offshore renewable energy industry.
- The State needs to support the upgrading of our national transmission network through greater investment in the physical capital of the grid, the technical capacity of the regulatory authorities, and the resourcing of planning and adjudication bodies.
- The maps that the State are using to select the areas which are appropriate for development in Irish waters are extremely limited and speak to a capacity constraint within the department when it comes to assessing potential areas for development.
- The approach taken is incoherent with the potential for Hybrid connection projects to accelerate our renewable transition and the optimisation of our existing grid capacity.
Speaking this morning (21 April 2023), Chambers Ireland’s Head of Policy, Shane Conneely, said:
“The approach taken by the Department in this Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan II is in many ways more conservative than the original plan (i.e. excluding Irish Sea waters where were included in the 2013 plan) and is likely to act as a further bottleneck in the process of activating our offshore renewable energy resources.
“We have grave concerns that his draft plan is not flexible enough to account for the dynamic technology environment which it is attempting to regulate.
“The ambition of this plan is not aligned with EU priorities regarding the need to expand our renewable energy generation capacity and is so conservative in its approach that it is likely to prevent our state from successfully achieving our 2030 Climate targets.
“If the plan is implemented as it is currently outlined we will not be seeing the targeted 5GW of offshore energy in Irish waters by 2030.”
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For Further Information:
Shane Conneely, Director of Policy and Communications, 086 3244 940 or email shane.conneely@chambers.ie
For our full submission please see:
About Chambers Ireland:
Chambers Ireland is the voice of business throughout Ireland, with 40 member chambers across every major city, town and region of the island. Aligning our strategic priorities with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, our aim is to make places better to live, work and do business