It gives me great pleasure to address the International Conference on Ocean Energy this morning in the National Convention Centre in Dublin city on the banks of the river Liffey, as it sweeps out to Dublin Bay. On behalf of the Government I’d like to take this opportunity particularly to welcome all the international demonstrators of ocean energy technologies and policy makers in the area of ocean energy here today to this international conference in Dublin. I am aware that this conference has a broad and intensive programme but I hope you will also have the opportunity to explore the city over the next few days.
To open the discussion this morning I thought I might offer an overview of Ireland - as a case study if you wish - as we strive to seize the various opportunities that Ocean Energy offers.
As an island nation we may be a relatively interesting case study. Water, the sea and the ocean are central to the lives and well-being of our citizens. It was in this context that earlier this year, the Irish Government published an integrated marine plan called “Our Ocean Wealth” The Plan acknowledges that the seas and ocean around Ireland are a key component of our economic recovery and sustainable growth, generating social, cultural and economic benefits for all our citizens.
Our Ocean Wealth recognises that to harness the full benefits of our seas and oceans, Ireland needs to adopt an integrated approach across Government and to ensure cross-Departmental and cross-Agency co-operation if our goals are to be achieved.
Ocean energy is a very good example in the marine area of where such a horizontal approach is needed, if we are to harness its benefits – being as it is a renewable energy technology, yet still at the research, development and demonstration phase, but with significant economic and industrial potential.
Renewable energy is central to Ireland’s energy policy. We have set out in our National Renewable Energy Action Plan that we intend to achieve our target through 40% renewable electricity, 10% renewable transport and 12% renewable heat, which will mean 16% of our overall energy consumption in 2020 will be from renewable sources, in line with our target under the EU Renewable Directive.
While the bulk of our target in the electricity sector will come from onshore wind, our plan still allows for a certain amount of electricity delivered from wave and tidal energy by 2020. We hope the technology will be commercially viable by that stage and that it starts to become more cost competitive. One of the key challenges for this sector is that once technologies are proven viable and commercial maturity is achieved, costs will need to fall rapidly to ensure wide acceptance and deployment in the electricity market.
Renewable energy is likely to continue to play an ever increasing role in Europe’s energy policy. Recent communications from the European Commission on energy in 2050 and renewable energy to 2030 look at the decarbonisation necessary in the electricity sector between now and 2050 and consider that a strong growth in renewable energy is a “no regrets” option in all scenarios.
You may be aware that it is Ireland’s turn to hold the Presidency of the EU for the first half of 2013. I intend that renewable energy will play an important part in our discussions. Next May, for example, Ireland is hosting the annual Strategic Energy Technology –SET-Plan meeting.
The SET-Plan is a high-level framework for strategic guidance to and coordination of energy research and demonstration programmes. It influences the shape of forthcoming Framework Programme calls for research funding proposals and pulls together researchers and industry through various technology based initiatives.
Ireland has led the way in the last 12 months in elevating Ocean Energy to Priority status, acting though the SET-Plan Steering Committee and the Ocean Energy Member States Interest Group, with support from the U.K. (and, in particular, from Scotland), France, Spain and Portugal. The work done by Ireland in the British/Irish Council, the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative and (with Northern Ireland and Scotland) through the pioneering ISLES INTERREG Project provided evidence which was persuasive in achieving this.
At the EU informal energy Ministers Council that I will be hosting in April, one area that we will concentrate on is the interaction between energy and ICT. Apart from the smart grid area, there are also many opportunities to develop this in the marine area. A good example of this is the Smart Bay project in Galway Bay, which provides in-situ, real time oceanographic monitoring.
My Department is also responsible for INFOMAR, the national marine mapping programme, run jointly by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute. This programme provides vital baseline data for the offshore area, including updated charts, depth models and information of seafloor sediments, which are fundamental to the development of offshore energy. To date the INFOMAR programme has been critical in completing mapping at all of our offshore test sites with SEAI, in Galway Bay and off Belmullet, as well as potential sites off Clare and Achill on our West Coast. I am pleased to note that the two main vessels deployed in the programme, the Celtic Voyager and the Keary are both tied up outside the Convention Centre today and available for visits during the conference, and I would encourage delegates to take this opportunity to learn more about our capability in this area.
In 2010 and 2011, we carried out a strategic environmental assessment and natura impact assessment of our waters and looked at potential levels of development of marine renewable energies that would be possible without likely significant adverse effects on the environment. The results showed that we have a renewable potential that is many times the size of our relatively small island electricity system.
The Renewable Energy Strategy 2012-2020 published by my Department earlier this year shows that, provided the costs and benefits stack up and the correct framework conditions are put in place, renewable energy export offers development and growth opportunities for Ireland. As we move from today’s national-based, stand-alone energy systems to a more interconnected and integrated single European energy market, we now have a real opportunity to go beyond providing for our own needs and to develop our abundant natural resources to become a renewable electricity exporter of scale.
I have been working with my UK colleagues through bilateral meetings and also in the framework of the British-Irish Council on the opportunities for using the co-operation mechanisms provided for in the Renewable Energy Directive to trade renewable energy in the period to 2020. My UK counterpart, Secretary of State Ed Davies, and I have agreed that we should aim to conclude a Memorandum of Understanding on this by the end of the year.
Ireland has also been working with Scotland and Northern Ireland on the ISLES feasibility study, looking at the potential for development of an offshore grid between the jurisdictions and the legal, technical and regulatory issues involved. We are also involved, along with 8 other Member States and Norway, in the North Seas Offshore Grid Initiative. Again this is looking at all aspects around the potential for development of a North Seas Offshore Grid in North West Europe, which is looking at the benefits that could be realised by member states co-operating with each other on cross border and offshore infrastructure developments.
On an all-island basis, ocean energy offers several possibilities. I am sure that Minister Foster will talk about the Northern Ireland leasing rounds and I was pleased to hear that Open Hydro has been offered the opportunity to develop tidal energy off the Northern Ireland coast. Open Hydro is partnering with BGE, the Irish natural gas company. It is welcome to see energy companies that traditionally invested in fossil fuels, branching into and investing in such areas as marine renewable energy.
My colleague, the Minister for Environment, Phil Hogan has advised me that he expects to publish a marine and foreshore Bill by the end of the year. I know that industry in Ireland eagerly awaits this development, which among other aspects will provide the future consenting framework for marine renewable energy projects. It has long been acknowledged that a more up to date foreshore and marine licensing regime is necessary to provide transparency and a suitable enabling framework for industry.
I ought to mention that under the current foreshore consenting system, we hope to shortly finalise a foreshore lease for the full scale wave test site off Annagh Head in Co Mayo.
Tomorrow I will be launching the IMERC project on the Liffey outside this venue. This is a marine research centre to be located in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork. It will bring together various researchers in the Cork area, including the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre in UCC and its wave testing tank, to a new campus. IMERC aims to harness and integrate diverse research and industry expertise through the development of an innovation cluster. An initial focus is on underpinning Ireland’s position as an early leader in the nascent ocean energy (wave and tidal) sector.
I know that many at today’s conference will be interested in hearing
about the finalisation of our Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan. In light of the new momentum in the marine area acknowledged in the Ocean Wealth integrated marine plan that the Government published earlier this year, I will be discussing with my ministerial colleagues how we can best support the wave and tidal sector in Ireland in an integrated and cohesive way going forward, with a view to finalising the Plan by the end of the year.
Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a fruitful few days of discussion, networking and sharing of ideas with each other.