China identified as threat to wind turbine supply in Limerick

JOBS servicing the wind energy sector in Ireland could be lost to China, an industry leader has warned an event in Limerick.

Airtricity founder Eddie O'Connor, who launched a new book at University of Limerick, also said An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar must step in to ensure jobs and investment are not lost to the Far East.

He warned the pace of delivery in the wind energy sector is "alarmingly slow", and Europe needs to "wake up".

"For the countries that are ramping up with their offshore wind, and Ireland is clearly way behind there, the reality is that the manufacturers are suffering huge losses and reducing employment levels as a result. If there’s an expectation on the part of governments that they will be able to ramp up supply to meet demand for turbines, then it’s not going to be met because no one is going to produce turbines at these losses," he said.

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Mr O'Connor, whose book Supergrid Super Solution is co-authored with former Irish Times editor Kevin O'Sullivan, added: "The wind industry is on its knees, making huge losses that are not sustainable while the oil and gas industry is making record profits. If we are serious about climate action and unwinding from oil and gas and, indeed, the dependency in Europe on Russian oil and gas, then the only answer is renewables but the industry is at risk of going bankrupt. The reality is that unless we start supporting the very industry with the solution to the greatest crisis of our times, then the only turbines we’ll be able to get will be coming from China."

The launch event - attended by 100 industry leaders - also heard calls for the responsibility of having the second highest office of State in the land, the Department of An Taoiseach in charge of exploiting Ireland's natural resources.

"We have an opportunity now that is the greatest in the history of the State. Ireland has the capacity to supply 10% of Europe’s power by 2050 and much more beyond that. Right now, we’re not too dissimilar to the Middle East in the 1940s when it began its oil and gas journey. That has made nations like Saudi Arabia global financial powerhouses and that’s what Ireland can become. The big difference is our energy is green and it’s the solution the world is waiting for," Mr O'Connor said.

He questioned why Germany, despite having weaker winds than Ireland is seeking to deliver significantly more power than here by 2035.

"Literally, we have 100 times more offshore territory than Germany and far greater winds and yet they have an ambition for 40 gigawatt of offshore wind power capacity by 2035. Our ambition is to deliver five gigawatt by 2030. So what does that say," he asked.

He criticised "bureaucratic inertia", which is a reference for staff of companies and agencies sticking to long-established ways of doing things.

Mr O'Connor added: ""To me, the Department of the Taoiseach and the chief civil servant there is where the power rests and where this must be delivered from. The Department has the power to tell secretaries in other departments what to do. Power used benignly, in the interests of the long term goals of Ireland, is the great function of the department of the Taoiseach.”

He continued: “We've proposed this and I think we're getting there. If you compare Ireland now with what it was like five years ago, we've moved a gigantic distance, but we need to move another gigantic distance.”

Mr O’Connor’s comments were supported.

Val Cummins, managing director of ocean water energy firm Simply Blue said: "The fundamental question is why are we not progressing faster? This is a massive opportunity in terms of floating offshore, in terms of port development, in terms of grid, the transmission system. There's so much work being done on all of those elements. But fundamentally, this work needs to be matched by a system of delivery and it’s clearly not there."

"There’s an industry consensus that we're not managing to deliver. And I think Eddie O’Connor's recommendations in relation to transforming the architecture of the system, such that it's fit for purpose to deliver, is a key point. We showed we could do it for Covid-19. That was a crisis at the time. The climate is a crisis. And I think the take home is it's time for action.”

John Fitzgerald, who heads up renewable energy firm SuperNode added: “The ambition to do 30, 40 or even 70 gigawatts off the West Coast is not matched by government mandates on the agencies they direct. So until they're joined up, we're really going to struggle to realise the potential.”

Pat Keating, the chief executive of Shannon Foynes Port Company, which has maritime responsibility for the Shannon Estuary – which will be a key staging post for development of the floating offshore wind fields - said: “We have a huge resource on our doorstep here, climate action is happening so we have an obligation even more so than an opportunity. Other countries that don't potentially have the same offshore opportunity as us will locate the supply chain in their countries and we lose out then on the big value-add opportunity and literally tens of thousands of jobs. This is just too big for us as a nation not to grab but time is not on our side actually and we need to get moving.”