Wind power 'a wasted opportunity'

Ireland has failed to take advantage of its offshore wind potential and State supports to the industry here lag those in other countries, a conference in Dundalk was told yesterday.

Brian Britton, the managing director of Oriel Windfarm, told delegates at the Gateway Status conference in Dundalk that offshore wind could generate 40pc of the country's electricity supply in the short term.

"In addition, there is potential for downstream industries to create hundreds of manufacturing and servicing jobs. Other EU states are actively developing offshore wind based industries, yet we are doing little or nothing to capture these opportunities for Ireland," he said.

According to the Oriel boss there are currently four offshore wind farms approved or at an advanced stage of the process in the Irish Sea with the capacity to generate 2,000 megawatts (MW) or 40pc of Ireland's electricity needs.

While he says these wind farms could be up and running within four years, the lack of specific government policy on offshore wind is holding back development of the sector.

"With a competitive industrial promotion programme, they would bring with them hundreds of jobs in new industry providing turbines, foundations, towers and fittings for the wind farms.

"Taking construction into account, thousands of jobs could be created at a time when jobs are being lost in the building sector," Mr Britton said.

He argues that while the development of offshore wind is more capital intensive than onshore wind, returns in power output are higher.

"To attract the capital to invest in the industry the State needs to have an operating environment that is competitive with other EU states," he said.

At the moment there are no incentives in place to attract investment in the area, whereas in countries such as the UK, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands they have attracted substantial investment.

Pat Boyle
Irish Independent

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