Ireland, Belgium and Britain have signed a new co-operation agreement on renewable energy and electricity interconnections between the three states.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has signed the agreement in Bruges with his Belgian and British ministerial counterparts, Tinne van der Straeten and Andrew Bowie MP.
The joint statement will allow for closer cooperation in offshore wind energy between the three countries.
It also builds on the ambition declared at the North Sea Summit, held in Ostend last year and attended by the then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Ryan, to accelerate the development of offshore wind in the North Seas, including the Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
Together, the nine countries involved in the Ostend Declaration have set offshore wind targets of about 120GW by 2030 and 300GW by 2050 in the North Sea.
The North Sea currently has a combined capacity of less than 30GW.
A working group will be established between the three countries, which will produce a report on the shared challenges, opportunities and solutions to developing offshore renewable energy infrastructure.
As part of this, Eirgrid, in line with Ireland’s own interconnection policy, and as part of the development of the country’s forward-looking transmission strategy, will engage with its counterparts in Belgium and Britain, Ryan’s department says.
Eirgrid and counterparts will report back to their respective ministries with options for trilateral arrangements between the three countries including any challenges related to these options, the department said.
It is expected that this work will be completed in the first half of 2025.
“Increased electricity interconnection is key as we continue to grow our use of renewable energy,”Ryan said.
“One of the best characteristics of renewable energy is that it is, firstly, home grown and accessible to every country. A second key characteristic is that it works best if it can be shared,”he said.
“ When we have excess offshore wind capacity in Ireland, for example, it makes sense that we utilise and store what we need but that we can also share our surplus supply with our neighbours through international cooperation and interconnection. It reduces costs, through sharing surplus energy, through sharing reserves and by ensuring the most competitive power sources are used first,”he said.
“One year after the North Sea Summit in Ostend, the new cooperation we are exploring today is another step forward in achieving the goal set by the nine participating countries who met and pledged to make the North Seas – including the Atlantic North Seas – as the wind powerhouse for Europe. Our future energy security is renewable but above all our future energy security is shared renewable,” van der Straeten said.
“Princess Elisabeth Island will unlock Belgium's second offshore wind zone. It will also serve as a landing point for future hybrid interconnectors,”the Belgian minister continued.
“With this partnership, Ireland, Britain and Belgium are realising the ambitions set out at the North Sea Summit in Ostend a year ago: to make the North Sea the largest sustainable power plant in Europe,”she said.
“The key now is to implement the actions to follow through on those ambitions and power our green future. Thanks to this joint statement, we can explore a promising opportunity for interconnection between our three countries,”she said.
Britain’s Minister for Nuclear and Renewables Andrew Bowie said the North Sea has “the potential to be a renewable energy powerhouse, and we will always look to collaborate with our neighbours to explore how we can make the most of it”.
“Not only do we share seas with our Belgian and Irish allies, but we share a common interest in cutting emissions and powering our homes with cheaper, cleaner, and more secure energy, “he said.
The joint statement was signed on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on offshore wind energy organised by the Belgian energy minister under the Belgian EU presidency.
