The Government has set a target for Ireland to have at least 5 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind power generating capacity by 2030, with an additional 2GW in development for other uses such as the production of green hydrogen. The long-term targets have been set at 20GW by 2040 and 37GW by 2050.
But all that power will need to be brought ashore and connected to the grid. That’s EirGrid’s job. “EirGrid develops, manages, and operates Ireland’s electricity grid,” says EirGrid director of infrastructure Michael Mahon. “We are responsible for the safe, secure and reliable supply of Ireland’s electricity. Our job is to bring power from where it is generated to where it is needed throughout Ireland, onshore and offshore.”
To date 3GW of capacity has been procured through the first offshore wind auction held under the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme in May 2023. This involved four projects off the east coast which will progress over the coming years. The next auction will be held this year, and will involve the delivery of 900 megawatts (MW) of capacity off the south coast – enough to power almost one million homes with clean energy.
It was decided that EirGrid would be the transmission system operator and asset owner for the new developments. In the case of the east coast the infrastructure to connect it to the grid onshore will be built by the wind farm developers and handed over to EirGrid following completion of construction work. For projects off the south coast EirGrid will be responsible for the development of the offshore network infrastructure.
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The new wind farms will be located in an area known as Tonn Nua, one of four proposed areas for future offshore wind development identified by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications in the South Coast Designated Marine Area Plan, Ireland’s first spatial plan for offshore renewable energy.
“The department looked for ideal locations off the south coast for offshore wind when drawing up the plan,” says Mahon. “It takes fishing, shipping and other maritime activities into account.”
EirGrid has already begun preparatory work for the infrastructure required to integrate the new wind farms into the grid. This will include two offshore substation platforms, offshore transmission cables connecting the offshore substations to landfall locations, new onshore substations, connections between landfalls and the new onshore substations by underground cables, and connections to the existing electricity transmission network from the new substations.
“We will build two offshore substations off the coast of Waterford,” says Mahon. “We will connect 450MW to the Great Island generating station near New Ross in Co Wexford and another 450MW to the network in Co Cork. We know we will bring cables ashore somewhere in Cork to connect to the network there and the other cables will come ashore either in Waterford or Wexford. We are engaged in a consultation process involving the public in Cork, Wexford and Waterford at present.”
Consultations commenced in November and are now concluding. “We want to get feedback from the public, landowners and maritime users,” says Mahon. “That will help us to identify the best places to locate the offshore and onshore substations, and to select the best cable routes to connect to the existing network.”
The next step will see EirGrid assess the feedback received during the consultation process. “Once we have refined our proposals we will hold further consultations and engage with landowners and other stakeholders. For example, if a cable is coming ashore at a beach we will consult beach users of the beach about minimising impact. We have been installing cable ducting for the Celtic Interconnector at Claycastle Beach near Youghal and we’ve been consulting and engaging with beach users there for a number of years and have developed a very good relationship with them. We intend to do the same with this project.”
Once the cable routes and substation locations have been identified the project will enter the planning approval and other consent processes. “We are carrying out surveys at the moment and will conduct offshore surveys next year. We will apply for Marine Area Consent from the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority to allow development on the seabed and seek planning permission from An Bord Pleanála after that.”
The intention is for the planning and consent processes to run in parallel with those of the wind farm developers. “Hopefully we will both get consents and planning permission around the same time, and we will have the infrastructure in place to connect the cables and substations to the wind farms when they are ready to go into operation. It will be a partnership between ourselves and the developers.”
