Ireland seeks 37GW of offshore wind by 2050. Major port upgrades are essential warns Captain Michael McCarthy
Ireland's Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy sets out plans for Ireland to deliver 20GW of offshore wind by 2040 and at least 37GW by 2050. This includes both fixed-bottom and floating wind turbines. It is generally recognised the scale of port infrastructure needed to facilitate fixed and floating wind in Ireland is non-existent. Critical strategic investment in ports is way behind time, and Ireland lacks the ambition to press on with the solution.
Over the last 50 years, our Tier 1 ports have upgraded cargo infrastructure, from their own resources, and with assistance from the EU Cohesion and Investments funds to cater for our expanding economy. There has been major infrastructure in Port of Cork in Ringaskiddy, quayside development in Foynes, development of Belview in Waterford and expanding and upgrading of facilities in Dublin Port. Since 1997, when the Ports became semi-state commercial entities, the State has taken an increasing financial dividend out of the ports, limiting their ability to re-invest in infrastructure. On the other hand, the State has invested hundreds of millions in critical infrastructure in six designated State-owned Fishery Harbours to support the fishing industry.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council issued a report two weeks ago which looked at the potential costs Ireland faces if it fails to meet its agreed EU climate commitments, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, an increasing share of renewable energy, and improved energy efficiency. They estimate that Ireland could potentially have to pay out €8 to €26 billion to its EU partners if it does not step up climate action swiftly.
In relation to Fixed and Floating Wind unit storage, assembly, integration wet storage, and deployment, I have completed numerous consultative surveys on behalf of the Offshore Wind sector all over Ireland in the last seven years.
During my survey work, I was struck that without investments by Britain and the Royal Navy in Ireland over two centuries ago, Ireland's coastline would be a maritime wasteland today. We often hear that we "turned our backs to the sea" and "Ireland's maritime area is seven times greater than our land area", and so much more. The Department of Marine's rationale is that the main ports in Ireland are commercial, so "get on with your commercial mandate". Yet in relation to the Offshore Renewable Energy portfolio, this concept is the real "chicken and egg" syndrome, and no major investment has happened to advance ORE, other than the extension of berthage in Cork that was under a planning permission time clock.
Look at the major infrastructure around our coast, which was built by the British over 200 years ago and is still essential to our maritime trade and leisure today. Take, for example, the essential breakwaters around our coast. Dublin's North and South Wall was the biggest single construction project in 18th-century Ireland and was built from 1740 – 1780 as Dublin's first breakwater (the second was the North Bull Wall built in 1816), which allowed Dublin to become a significant port.
"Due to successive government doddering, we are still waiting for decisive decisions"
Dun Laoghaire's two massive piers, were built in the early 1800s, creating a huge 250-acre sheltered harbour while Howth was completed in 1813, due to difficulties for the sea trade from London to Dublin. If we continue north and south around Ireland, breakwaters such as Rosslare, Dunmore East, and hundreds of piers, slipways, smaller breakwaters and capital dredging all around our coast play a vital role in our maritime sphere today. Look at our world-renowned Light Houses perched on the most hazardous and isolated headlands and Islands off our coast. Where would we be as a nation without these vital strategic navigational developments? Today, due to successive government doddering, we are still waiting for decisive decisions from our government and departments.
Which brings me to today.
Currently, Ireland does not have any Irish port facility suitable to handle the assembly and integration of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) units and very limited quayside and space for the massive, fixed bottom structures. To deploy 30 GW of FOW in the next 25 years, as per our government commitments, a number of suitable port facilities with the required depth of water will have to be invested in and built. These developments must be scalable, flexible, adaptable, and will have long-term viability as deployment, wet storage, O&M and future decommissioning facilities. This includes quayside area, quayside load-bearing capacity, lifting crane requirements, ability to handle modern jack-up vessels and integrate FOW towers, blades, and nacelles to floating bases with indicated drafts from 12-15m water depth.
Taking the above criteria into account, numerous reports, surveys and academic papers have indicated that there are two ports in Ireland with the capacity to handle these fully integrated FOW units from depth of water, access channels, and wet storage, and these are the Shannon Estuary and Bantry Bay, both of which need major port development.
Unless these major developments start immediately in our Irish ports, developers will be left with no choice but to utilise foreign ports from Scotland (Hunterston / Kishorn), Wales and southwest England into the future, such as Milford Haven or Port Talbot, possibly from Falmouth/Plymouth area.
These may be commercially viable for the Irish Sea, but when you look at the Atlantic Coast, distances are too great, meaning commercial viability of farms would be challenging from foreign ports. Foreign ports may work for small pre-commercial demonstrator projects but the distance from the port to farm will incur additional costs, both during installation and maintenance, as in the Kincardine wind farm. A reasonable distance from the port to a FOW windfarm is approximately 135 to 160 NM (250 to 300km) but due to other constraints large distance may be deemed acceptable.
Project developers and key investors must be able to evidence project performance metrics such as project availability and competitive LCOE / IRR when committing to developing FOW projects in Ireland. Access to a suitable port in reasonable proximity to the farm will be critical for project development. Classification, marine insurance, towing costs, vessel hire, and safety factors will be the primary factors influencing acceptable port-to-farm distances.
All our Irish ports will have a major role in these ORE projects, resulting in hundreds of thousands of jobs and the subsequent financial windfall to the Government and all regions of Ireland. It will be a shocking crime against generations of coastal communities if this opportunity is not grasped for Ireland and goes to the UK and foreign ports due to Government inaction. It really is critical decision time for the Government to stop procrastinating.
A detailed analysis has been carried out in the SEAI-funded research within SIMREI and the ongoing DIFOWT (De-Risking floating offshore wind) project.
Captain Michael McCarthy is the past Chairman of Cruise Europe (2012-2024), former Commercial Manager of the Port of Cork Company Ireland, and Past President of the Irish Institute of Master Mariners. He is a Class 1 Master Mariner and a University College Cork postgraduate in Management and Marketing. Michael has set up a private consultancy company, MMCC Port Marine Ltd, having built up an extensive knowledge of the port and shipping sector over the last 50 years, including Port Development & Operations, Terminal Management, International Port Safety and Environmental Management and EU Cruise Initiatives. In the private sector, Michael was a former director/ P&I marine surveyor, marine cargo insurance surveyor, and DGSA (dangerous goods safety advisor). He is very involved in EU Initiatives, developing one of Ireland’s Offshore Floating Wind Port Infrastructures and constructing a "land-based" production facility for RAS (Recirculating Aqua Systems) Atlantic Salmon.
