These include the creation of an Offshore Wind Energy Development Committee for Ireland's International Financial Services Center (IFSC) to coordinate government policy across departments, State agencies and industry. "This body could drive the legislative and policy changes needed to ensure that clean offshore wind energy is harnessed to power Ireland’s homes, businesses and economy," an IWEA statement read.
At a jointly-hosted Offshore Wind Energy Forum on Wednesday, two new reports published by KPMG and Cornwall Insights, respectively were discussed.
The separate reports included governmental policy recommendations to eliminate the legal and technical barriers holding back the development Ireland's largest renewable energy resource.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has estimated that onshore and offshore wind together could create 20,000 jobs by 2040. Employment opportunities in offshore wind could also regenerate local ports around the island and bring highly-skilled jobs to the regions, the SEAI asserted.
Paddy Teahon, chairman of NOW Ireland, commented on the strong pipeline of offshore wind projects in the Irish Sea. "These projects could deliver around 1,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity in the immediate future, and an additional 3,000 MW by 2030," Teahon said.
With an estimated 4-5,000 MW of offshore wind energy ready for development off Ireland’s east coast, a volume of clean energy needed to decarbonize Ireland's economy could be delivered, the IWEA quoted from the reports.
(Anadolu Agency)