Moneypoint a major part of our 'untapped potential'

by Páraic McMahon paraic@clareecho.ie

PÁRAIC MCMAHON paraic@clareecho.ie

A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MAU) has been signed by the ESB and Shannon Foynes Port to support the transformation of the Shannon Estuary as a major centre of deployment for floating offshore wind projects in Irish and international waters.

MINISTER for the Environment, Eamon Ryan (GP) has pinpointed Moneypoint as a vital component in Ireland reducing its energy emissions.

In the agreement, Shannon Foynes Port and ESB have committed to working closely together to maximise the unique potential of the Shannon Estuary thanks to its mix of deepwater, development lands, low-lying shoreline, and proximity to what is one of the world’s most consistent wind resources off Ireland’s west coast.

Members of the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce are currently assessing the strategic strengths and comparative advantages of the Estuary will be assessed by the Taskforce while also scoping out potential economic opportunities. The group is to have a report compiled by the end of November.

Chairperson of the Taskforce, Barry O’Sullivan recently met with Minister Ryan and for the Green Party leader their engagement hammered home the possibilities for the entire region surrounding

The MOU follows the publication late last year of Shannon Foynes Port’s Vision 2041 masterplan for the wider estuary, which set out a clear strategy to transform the estuary into one of the world’s leading green energy hubs. It identified three key growth areas for the estuary, namely delivering floating offshore wind at international scale, green industrial development tran sition, and expanded, diversified and more sustainable logistics ser-

During his time as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2007 to 2011, Ryan set a target of 40 per cent of the country’s energy com

ESB is currently undertaking a multi-billion-euro redevelopment project at its Moneypoint site to include significant amounts of off ing from renewable sources, this was met in 2020. Now, he wants this doubled to 80 percent by 2030. shore wind coupled with the production of hydrogen and other green derivatives. As an enabler to the Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint project, an offshore wind construction hub will be developed which will facilitate the fabrication and assembly of floating offshore wind platforms.

“I’m convinced we can do it, one of the ways we can do it is by switching offshore, our sea area is seven times our land area, there is a limit in Kerry as to how much turbines you can put up in any area but at sea, the resource is huge and the wind power is really strong,” he stated.

Shannon Foynes Port’s masterplan identified the development of four core facilities at the estuary to support the delivery of floating offshore wind at scale. These included substructure assembly at Moneypoint, as well as turbine integration and pre-commissioning at Foynes port, wet storage at various locations within the estuary and an Operations & Maintenance base also at Foynes.

Offshore wind energy by Moneypoint is central to this. Speaking on Radio Kerry’s flagship current affairs show, Kerry Today, Minister Ryan outlined, “We will have a lot of offshore wind which will come into shore at the Shannon Estuary, that’s where we have the deep-water port.

Shannon Foynes Port’s plans centre on the development of a new deep water port at Foynes Island, which will be linked directly to the national transport network via a direct restored rail and new road link. Under this MOU, the parties will collaborate to ensure that ESB’s Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint project and the port authority’s projects will be developed in a coordinated manner in the national interest with a common goal of maximising the opportunity for the estuary and wid er Mid-West region.

Paul Lennon, Head of Offshore Wind and Hydrogen at ESB, said, “We are delighted to partner with

"If you look at what the likes of ESB are proposing and look at Moneypoint on the other side of the Estuary and similar with Tarbert on this side, you’ve all you need there, you have a really good deep water jetty so any ships can get in, you have a platform there which you could deploy turbines out but what the ESB want to do, you bring the offshore wind in there, you use the grid which we have, there’s major electricity wires connecting to both Tarbert and Moneypoint, you can put that electricity onto that grid to power the country.

Shannon Foynes Port to help deliver on our ambitious plans for floating offshore wind. As ESB transforms its generation portfolio with projects such as Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint, this collaboration builds on our commitment to delivering renewables projects in the Mid-West region. It is an important step in ESB’s efforts to deploy the latest technologies and infrastructure as we play a crucial role in Ireland’s transition to net zero”.

Shannon Foynes Port CEO, Pat Keating stated, “As the maritime authority for the Estuary, we are focused on ensuring the unrivalled opportunity arising from one of the world’s best wind regimes and proximity of our deep waters is maximized for the national interest.

“When the wind isn’t blowing, the ESB are saying we should do and everyone in Europe is now talking about and starting to do, you convert the electricity into hydrogen and use electrolysis, it is a new but advancing technology, when the wind isn’t blowing you burn the hydrogen to generate power and you run the power out on the same grid, you have a continuous stable electricity source,” he explained.

The ESB through its Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint project is a key constituent in the transformation of the wider estuary and we look forward to doing whatever we can to ensure this essential project is realised”.

Ireland’s offshore wind energy potential arising from our Atlantic seaboard winds is among Europe’s leading renewable energy opportunities. With a maritime area more than seven times the size of its landmass, ideal wind conditions, and strategic location on the Atlantic Ocean’s edge, floating offshore wind generation can deliver up to 30 gigawatts of energy by 2050 –six times more than current domes- tic electricity demand.

The MOU supports the Govern ment’s Climate Action Plan. While non-exclusive in nature, the agreement sets out both organisations’ intention to work together for the

Minister Ryan insisted that this was necessary. “We will have emergency generators to provide back up as well, we do need that, the really big strategic option by 2030 what we’re planning to have is 5GW of offshore wind and to put that in scale, that is equivalent to the amount of energy we’re using el, then the following decade and this is the really big industrial plan for the country, we can use that to go further to really tap into the benefit of achieving Irish offshore renewable energy targets, in line with ESB’s Net Zero by 2040 strat egy and Shannon Foynes Port’s Vi sion 2041 masterplan.