The Government has outlined how it will identify the next generation of sites for wind farms off the Irish coast and scale-up renewable energy to 2040.
The process will identify sites for the development of fixed-bottom and floating wind farms. This will include “demonstrators”, deployed initially in more hostile parts of the Atlantic Ocean to gauge how effective the technology is.
Up to now, sites were selected on an individual basis. However, it is hoped that by drawing up a national designated maritime area plan – known as a DMAP – the planning approval process will be shortened while the roll-out of a series of operational wind farms will be accelerated. This would provide greater certainty for developers and communities.
Details are outlined in the publication on Friday of a new document, called the National Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy Proposal. The document is published by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. It will be accompanied with a “public participation statement”.
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Extensive public and stakeholder consultation will take place over 2026 and 2027. The draft national DMAP is due to be completed early in 2027 and brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas for approval.
The Government has not indicated how many sites will be identified, nor has it stated an expected density of wind farms. This will be determined by a survey of Ireland’s entire maritime area, extending some 200 nautical miles offshore.
It is understood, however, that the DMAP will allow for the development of about 15 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. That is the equivalent of providing power to 14 million households, which is significantly above Ireland’s current electricity requirements.
“The national DMAP for offshore renewable energy will be a strategic plan that outlines the development and management of offshore renewable energy resources off Ireland’s coast,” said Minister of State for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Timmy Dooley.
It will provide “a clear and sustainable framework for developing offshore renewable energy, balancing economic growth, environmental protection and community engagement to support Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon future”, he added.
The plan is to assist in realising the Government’s objective of securing 20GW of offshore wind by 2040.
It builds on the South Coast DMAP approved by the Oireachtas last year. The first of four sites within that area off Waterford and Wexford coast, known as Tonn Nua, will go to auction in November to procure almost 1GW of capacity.
Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien, said having a single national DMAP “will provide greater certainty for our marine stakeholders and the renewables industry”. The statement also provides information for environmental and fisheries sectors on how they can take part in the consultative process.
“For Ireland, human-generated climate change presents a significant and expensive challenge to which our communities must adapt,” Mr Dooley added.
Continuing unpredictability of geopolitical events had made Ireland’s dependency on fossil fuels unreliable and unaffordable, he said. “These combined pressures reinforce the need to accelerate its transition to indigenous and transformative renewable energy sources . . . the DMAP process will ensure developments in Ireland’s maritime area take place in a managed and sustainable way”.
Mr Dooley said the Government’s target of 5GW of offshore wind by 2030 “is real”. He expected most projects currently in planning to be “well into construction” by that time, though there may be some slippage into 2031 and 2032.
