Interconnector costs jeopardise major Irish offshore wind exports to UK

Ramifications from the Irish government’s decision to break off negotiations with the UK over the onshore Midlands Wind Export Project look set to extend into the export of offshore wind power to the UK, it has emerged.

This puts at risk further capacity that was expected online before 2017.

Five offshore wind farms are at various stages of development off the coast of Ireland, with combined capacity in excess of 2.6GW. Much of this capacity is being developed with export opportunities to the UK grid in mind as the UK strives to meet EU renewables targets for 2020.

But there is growing concern that the shelving of the 5GW onshore Midlands project ( see EDEM 14 April 2014 ) could extend beyond onshore wind and hamper the development of Ireland’s offshore sector, putting at risk further green power that was expected to flow into the UK before 2017.

A source close to the matter on Tuesday suggested that negotiations between the UK and Irish governments on the Midlands project were broken off because of concerns over the costs of installing an interconnector between the two countries.

This would have negative implications for the continued progress on offshore wind projects and has led the National Offshore Wind Association (NOW) of Ireland to sound a warning over the industry’s ability to continue drawing investment into the sector.

On Sunday, NOW Ireland released a statement expressing “surprise and concern” over the Irish government’s decision to pull out of talks with the UK, believing a deal could have been agreed to enable the development of the country’s wind resources by 2020. “The decision not to proceed with negotiations could end that opportunity,” the statement said.

‘Shovel ready’

All five offshore wind farms in development have been making good progress towards grid connectivity ahead of 2020, with NOW Ireland adding that projects are “shovel ready”.

SSE Renewable’s 500MW Arklow Bank has been granted consent for construction.

The 330MW Oriel wind farm and the 520MW Dublin Array wind project are on course to connect to the grid by 2016 and 2018 respectively.

In addition, over 1GW of wind capacity could arise from the Codling Wind Park that has been granted consent for construction off the Irish coast in readiness for first electricity generation in 2017 or 18.

SSE declined to comment directly on the matter on Tuesday but said future progress on the Arklow project would be dependent on receiving support from the Irish government’s Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff (REFiT) system as well as the appropriate grid infrastructure being in place.

“While SSE is already consented to develop the project, it is still in the grid connections application process,” a spokesman said.

The Oriel wind farm, being developed by an independent Irish-owned company, lists itself as: “One of a number of Irish Energy projects which is seeking to build an export market into the UK”.

It adds: “In the years ahead, exports of renewable energy may rival Tourism as a revenue generator for the Irish economy.”

Therefore doubts will now surface over the Irish government’s willingness to back offshore wind projects through the REFiT mechanism if the means to export to the UK grid does not exist.

Meanwhile, NOW Ireland has pledged to continue negotiations on behalf of the offshore wind sector in finding additional investors to bring the projects to fruition. Henry Evans