Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten TD, represented Ireland in Luxembourg yesterday to sign a new declaration called the “Political Declaration On Energy Cooperation Between The North Seas Countries” with region countries Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The declaration is an agreement for closer energy cooperation between the 9 countries involved to ensure the successful development of offshore wind energy. The political declaration was signed by nine Ministers and Vice-President for Energy Union, Maroš Šef?ovi?, and by Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete.
The action plan includes strategies to facilitate the building of missing electricity links, encourage more trading of energy, further integration of energy markets, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancement of security supply in the region.
“Ireland has the best offshore energy potential in Europe, but we need to work with our colleagues across the EU to turn this potential into electricity. While we are at the leading edge ocean energy research, we can always benefit from closer cooperation with our EU neighbours, not just in ensuring that we use the most cost effective solutions to produce offshore energy, but also to get this green electricity onto the European electricity grid,” the Minister commented on the signing of the declaration.
Vice-President Maroš Šef?ovi? said: “Today’s declaration is an important step towards an Energy Union that will deliver the climate commitments we made in Paris last year. Close regional cooperation and pooling together of energy sources will be essential to unlock the full potential of the North Sea resources at the lowest cost.”
There are four major areas that the declaration is asking the North Seas countries to focus on. The first area that is of importance is spatial planning. Suggestions brought forward in the declaration was to improve spatial planning by sharing data, finding shared solutions to environmental impacts and to optimise the use of the limited space in the North Sea.
An electricity grid is to be developed for large scale offshore wind energy and it was also suggested that potential buy brand name ativan synergies with the offshore oil and gas sectors should be explored. The declaration concentrates on the principles of shared information, getting countries to confer their needs to one another and to encourage best practices and ways to harmonise technical rules and standards across the regions of countries involved with North Seas wind energy farming.
“Today marks a turning point in cooperation in the North Seas region. We now have a concrete action plan that will deliver results. This strategy will boost interconnection and renewables capacity, help fight climate change and bolster energy security, which are the central goals of the Energy Union,” Commissioner Arias Cañete said.
By getting countries to cooperate and uphold mutual recognition of national standards, it is hoped that private investments for the development of the North Sea will grow. Another goal is to potentially save up to €5.1 billion through offshore grid development by saving on fewer and shorter cables for the offshore wind installations to land.
Wind Energy is a growing sector in Ireland and Northern Ireland, creating jobs and benefiting communities. See below the latest facts and figures on the wind energy industry.
235 The number of Wind Farms on the island of Ireland.
201 The number of wind farms in the Republic of Ireland
3078MW Installed Wind Energy Capacity on the island of Ireland.
2,000,700 Homes Powered Equivalent on the island of Ireland.
2436MW Installed Capacity in the Republic of Ireland.
642MW Installed Capacity in Northern Ireland.
2132MW Republic of Ireland Wind Generation Record reached at approximately 22.00 on 28th January 2016.
583MW Northern Ireland Wind Generation Record reached at approximately 18.15 on 1st June 2015.
2683MW All Island Wind Generation Record reached at approximately 21.45 on 28th January 2016.
The above are based on latest information available from ESB Networks, Eirgrid & SONI. 24% Percentage of Ireland’s electricity demand met from wind in 2015 (EirGrid provisional).
3,164,984 Potential CO2 reductions (pa) in tonnes, from wind farms installed on the Island of Ireland.*
88.5MW Installed capacity of Ireland’s largest wind farm, Meentycat in Co. Donegal.
1992 Year Ireland’s first commercial wind farm was commissioned at Bellacorrick, Co Mayo.
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