The Irish Government needs to speed up the planning and permitting process for offshore developments in order to hit its 2030 target, according to WindEurope.
Ireland’s plans for developing offshore wind include the Moneypoint and Codling projects, which would between them account for 3GW of capacity in the next decade, helping to deliver the country’s decarbonisation ambition.
WindEurope said there are “still gaps in the regulations around planning, consenting and grid connection”.
The pathway for building offshore wind farms is longer than onshore on average and if the country wants to reach its 2030 target “it needs to act quicker”.
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “It’s great to see that Ireland is starting to tap its huge offshore wind potential. These two new offshore projects will bring large volumes renewable energy and they’ll create many new jobs.
“The Irish Government has set itself a commendably ambitious target of 5GW offshore wind by 2030. This is achievable, but they’ll need to speed up the planning processes, and the sooner they can do this, the better.”