Literature and methodology for a Blueprint of sustainable development of offshore wind in Ireland

This study aims to review  relevant blueprints, visions and masterplans for offshore wind development in other countries, in order to inform a methodology for writing a blueprint, arising from the research conducted in the EirWind project. The EirWind Blueprint is envisaged as a synthesis of the studies conducted through EirWind, ultimately presented, such that policy makers may derive value for forward (master) planning purposes.

Three case studies have been selected to cover a range of issues, including infrastructure, government supports, innovation and public engagement, from New York and Virginia in the United States, and Taiwan. The blueprint process and resulting masterplan for New York consists of a comprehensive suite of actions for site selection, grid development, economic supports and stakeholder engagement. The vision for Virginia outlines infrastructure and geographical advantages, and  the opportunity for Virginia to become a hub for the East Coast offshore wind supply chain.. The Taiwan government’s promotion targets, strategies and incentives for offshore wind including the "Thousand Wind Turbines" project, Feed-in-Tariff, and incentives for demonstration projects have effectively supported the offshore wind industry in that country. The high demand for electricity and strong grid in New York and Taiwan, which can absorb the large scale offshore wind power, require less action for route to markets, wind dispatch down resolution and power to gas, than in Ireland

Following issues identified in the case studies, the recommended future scope of work for WP6 should include national and international clusters for supply chain, region-based REFiT and incentives, routes to transport and heat markets and storage of hydrogen, and cumulative impact assessment.

Lessons learned indicate that consideration of spatial and temporal scales are essential in developing the blueprint for sustainable development of offshore wind in Ireland. A three-dimensional template is therefore proposed for correlating and analysing the information from each work package in EirWind, as an approach to synthesising the research, and for the development of a blueprint as the final project output. It will loop over results and recommendations including wind resources, data, ports and logistics, stakeholder groups, and grid to populate the template. The approach will provide a whole of Ireland view, as well as a separate analysis for the East Coast, South Coast, and West Coast, integrated with the GIS datasets and maps. As a next step, development scenarios for an agreed timeline, (e.g. 2025, 2035, 2040 and 2050), should be discussed and agreed with the Consortium.