Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 February 2023
73. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the way to stimulate the establishment of indigenous businesses in the renewable energy supply chain through a national renewable energy business accelerator programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9401/23]
View answerThe west coast of Ireland has significant potential for the development of renewable energy. I refer, in particular, to wind and wave energy. I want to know what engagement is taking place between Government and Enterprise Ireland with regard to establishing a national renewable energy business accelerator programme to support Irish entrepreneurs and businesses in capitalising on the potential and creating jobs in every single community across the western half of the country.
First, I would like to say that I look forward to working with all Members of the House in this new brief and with the two other Ministers in the Department. As we have heard, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is taking over the Department in terms of responding to questions this morning.
I am glad Deputy Naughten asked this question. My Department together with Enterprise Ireland are actively engaged in building the capacity in the indigenous sector for supply chain opportunities in the green energy and renewables sectors. With the support of my Department, Enterprise Ireland’s new sustainability department is examining the key emerging areas of opportunity in these sectors and how best to develop Ireland’s renewable energy sector on a basis of competitive advantage, including through the mechanism of business accelerators and-or incubator programmes.
The offshore wind industry, for example, has a significant regional employment potential and this is being exploited through the development of nine regional enterprise plans. The delivery of smart grid management systems, offshore wind energy and hydrogen for national industrial development and international markets is currently being explored as well, as the Deputy will know only too well. In the medium and longer term, Ireland will have excess renewable energy capability and enterprise policy should ensure domestic value-added opportunities are fully captured alongside energy exports. Hydrogen and decarbonised gas and stimulating domestic biomethane production should also be a critical component of Ireland’s energy ecosystem and decarbonisation pathway.
Building on and complementing the recently published White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030, my Department is assessing how Ireland’s enterprise sector, both indigenous and foreign direct investment, FDI, will support the development of Ireland’s ambitions to deliver an offshore wind generation sector of significant scale. Part of that consideration will be how to capture the industrial development opportunities that would arise both in terms of exports and in developing appropriate supply chain strategies from co-locating renewable energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure and industrial energy demand and building clusters of economic activity in that regard. This is in accordance with the framework for enterprise policy for the period to 2030, as outlined in the White Paper, which was only launched in December. It is expected that actions aimed at developing indigenous supply chain capacity will be an integral part of these initiatives.
I thank the Minister. A study commissioned by the Irish Wind Energy Association in 2020 estimates that the development of just 3 GW of offshore wind energy off the west coast, approximately 4% of the actual energy potential off our coast, could lead to the creation of 2,500 jobs during the construction phase and a further 600 permanent jobs once the wind farms are in operation. The study also estimated that the development of the offshore wind energy sector could contribute €1.7 billion a year to the Irish economy. The difficulty is that Enterprise Ireland is primarily focused on helping Irish SMEs to develop capability in terms of exporting, not looking at the potential that we have here. When they do look at it here, they are only focusing on high-potential start-ups rather than the indigenous potential that exists already. I know the Minister's commitment to and interest in this. I am asking him to take a special focus on this area.
Many people are only beginning to realise the scale of what is being proposed here. We have projects comprising about 28 GW of energy at various stages of proposals, planning and funding. In capital terms, that is €80 billion worth of expenditure. If we can realise that kind of potential offshore, which of course is many multiples of what Ireland's energy grid actually uses, the estimate is that by 2050 about 5,000 people will have been employed in the creation and building of that sector, while billions of euro of investment will have been generated along with many permanent jobs in the maintenance and management of those offshore grid systems. There are huge pieces of infrastructure that need to be constructed onshore and then taken offshore, both fixed and floating. This is an energy revolution that we are talking about. It is going to change the Irish economy and it is going to change how we sell Ireland to the rest of the world as a place for international business. There will be massive opportunities for indigenous Irish companies in that space. We have a unit in Enterprise Ireland that is focusing specifically on renewable energy. They are contributing to the deliberations of the Shannon Estuary task force, for example, and to discussions that are taking place in respect of how we can ensure that Irish indigenous companies can grow and expand in order to allow us to realise this potential.
As the Minister knows well, when everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. This is a cross-Government issue. I am aware of the Minister's commitment in respect of this matter. I am asking him to take ownership and to take a leadership role. We need to see investment in key infrastructure that will serve as the pillar to support the Gael Offshore Network, to anchor additional foreign direct investment coming in here. One of those areas is that of our ports. We do not have the capacity in any of our ports to construct these turbines today. We also have an Irish indigenous company, SuperNode, that wants to develop a transmission network right across Europe in order to export the wind energy we are generating off our Atlantic coast directly into the European grid, as well as bringing southern European solar energy into the European grid.
We need to support that company in delivering on that objective to benefit every single citizen in the State.
I reassure the Deputy that we are not missing this. The White Paper states the scale of our offshore wind potential, when coupled with hydrogen production, offers a once-in-a-century industrial development opportunity, as well as high-value export capability. My Department, being responsible for enterprise, trade and employment, needs to be central to the planning in this regard. We are part of the offshore wind energy task force, which is chaired by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. On that task force, we have a specific responsibility for supply chain issues. Obviously, our agencies are very much part of that discussion.
It is important to say this is in development and that we do not have it right yet. However, considerable effort and time are being devoted to ensuring a cross-government response to the potential. In many ways, we are in a race against time because other countries are doing the same as us. Scotland and Portugal, in particular, are well ahead of Ireland regarding offshore wind. France is also developing at pace, as are other EU countries. Therefore, Ireland needs to ensure the State element of this, in terms of agencies, Departments and Ministers, is putting the necessary regulatory, policy and funding environments in place to allow the private sector to invest what is a wall of investment capital in the sector over the next five to ten years. That means making ready our ports and ensuring a supply chain that can greatly benefit parts of Ireland that currently do not have the job creation potential the sector can provide in the future.
