Offshore wind could be worth €69bn to Ireland if harvested correctly
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The Irish economy has developed quiet rapidly from a mainly agriculturally-based economy in the 1960s, through a period of sustained growth in the manufacturing of ICT equipment, to software development, pharmaceutical industries as well as major growth in the financial and data services sector.
Ireland, with its offshore wind resources has the potential to be another major step change in the economy if, and only if, we can harvest the energy and related economic activity sitting in the seas and around our coasts.
Ireland has a well-founded approach to roll out offshore wind to the east, south and west with fixed bottom windfarms first in shallow waters and floating wind farms in deeper waters through auctions. And Ireland’s real potential scale lies in floating wind and the ability to be able to harvest it.
Offshore wind will be of the order of four times the magnitude of onshore wind. However, ports are a bottleneck which must be immediately actioned by government to deliver this.
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB
Ports need to be delivered not only to facilitate the roll-out of the offshore windfarms but also deliver the economic boost within the island that wind development activity can bring. The alternative is continued use of insecure, expensive foreign fossil fuels and missing targets, triggering a €5bn bill by 2030.
Wind Energy Ireland’s report, ‘We can build them – Supporting Irish ports to build offshore wind farms’ explores the funding gap that ports will be required to solve to deliver the infrastructure and space that will be required. The Government state departments should follow the State-led development approach for the requisite port infrastructure to maximise the local content element of the work involved with the manufacturing, delivery, and installation of offshore wind. The payback in the return to the Exchequer is sizeable if it is planned correctly.
However, current government industrial capability strategy indicates that mainly highly skilled and professional jobs are of interest, eg development and project management, but Ireland needs to maximise potential job and economic opportunities that capture a spectrum of jobs, from high-skilled operations and maintenance roles to port marshalling and installation.
Ireland also needs to focus on manufacturing roles, eg concrete and steel fabrication, that can be delivered for the long term and expand our horizons, fulfilling many of these roles and skillsets from within our economy. It is in the manufacturing sector where serious additional opportunities can exist; not just limited to turbine tower manufacture, floating platforms, and mooring systems, but also gravity bases and other steel structures for fixed, huge floating structures and even turbine blades.
Ireland will need more than 7000 blades manufactured over the next two decades, and a facility like this alone could create in excess of 750 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect jobs.
A report from the Government's consultants (BVG) covering the regional economic impact of the offshore development and the value to be brought to the southeast based on 5GWs of wind was published as part of the South Coast DMAP.
Overall, south coast wind will deliver an estimated €4.4bn in extra benefits to the Irish economy. It will also deliver an estimated 49,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) years of employment to the Irish economy.
Of these benefits, €2.9bn and 32,200 FTE years is expected to be captured by the south coast region in the baseline scenario, and €3.1bn and 34,300 FTE years in the manufacturing upside scenario. This means that the south coast region captures between 66% and 70% of the total Irish economic and employment benefits associated with the south coast.
Other components that can be manufactured ‘locally’ will come with an upside. Also note these figures relate to just 5GWs of Ireland’s totalled planed 37GW of offshore wind.
In one offshore wind scenario, in the Future Frameworks consultation, at least €69bn extra is expected in the economy by mid-century. As shown, there is significant potential to deliver meaningful value to the economy through jobs and economic value add to workers pockets.
Ports are central to the development of offshore wind. Ireland has limited ports that can do this work. Ports play a key role for the local supply chain, manufacturing, logistics and supporting infrastructure including the storage of components.
Offshore wind can support jobs and sustainable economic growth through mid-century and turn the country into a net exporter of energy as we deliver our own goal of net-zero by 2050. GWEC’s Global Offshore Wind 2024 report confirms that "offshore wind can serve as a catalyst for jobs by driving the expansion and modernisation of critical infrastructure".
All we need to do is start building ports, capture offshore wind manufacturing in Ireland and reap the benefits of long-term jobs, continued economic benefit and clean low-cost energy for customers.
- James Carton is Assistant Professor in Sustainable Energy in Dublin City University (DCU). Bill Duggan is a research assistant at DCU.