The offshore wind supply chain is readying itself to deliver on Ireland’s multi-billion-euro energy transition opportunity. But the government must act decisively to build confidence and trust if it wants to secure the investment, resources and capabilities needed to deliver, says David Feighery, Head of COWI Ireland.
At a recent event at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, the Minister for Transport, Dara O’Brien made it clear that the next five years will be focused around accelerating the delivery of the critical infrastructure Ireland so desperately needs.
Ahead of Ireland stands a multi-billion-euro opportunity for the Irish economy across a suite of major construction programmes, including transport, housing and offshore wind. It’s an opportunity that the offshore wind supply chain is cautiously optimistic about. But if we are to deliver 5GW by 2030, then we need to replace pens and paper with permits and projects.
Certainty for the supply chain is non-negotiable
Much rides on the need to accelerate planning – a topic whichhas been discussed extensively. With the Planning Act now signed into law, we must turn our attention to building out the supply chain so that it is ready to deliver. This will not happen without a considerable boost in project pipeline certainty.
The stop-start nature of several of Ireland’s previous infrastructure projects eroded trust and a much higher level of confidence is now required by developers and tier one contractors to enter the market. It is worth remembering that Ireland is competing on the global stage when it comes to securing the expertise and resources that it will need to deliver its offshore wind ambition. Major international players will only commit resources once there is clarity from the government and firm project timelines.
The ongoing work to publish National Designated Maritime Area Plans is a welcome step in the right direction and would support a selection of wind farms to be built concurrently. However, urgent progress must be made on advancing the first and second tranches of sites. Thereafter regular auction rounds must be forthcoming not only so that projects can be built on time to meet Offshore Renewable Energy targets, but also to avoid creating downtime between projects where developers and contractors may need to reallocate resourceselsewhere.
The adoption of more collaborative and flexible forms of contracts such as NEC will also help foster greater confidence within the supply chain built around a philosophy and spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.
Blending international expertise with home-grown talent
After projects are green lighted, one of the key challenges will be attracting the skilled workers to build them. Ireland has a track record of capability in parallel sectors including onshore wind, maritime and engineering and a strong manufacturing base for the construction of towers and foundations. Tier one international contractors will seek to leverage these capabilities through partnerships which will see domestic capacity grow.
As forecasts by Wind Energy Ireland outline, around 2,800 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs a year will be created delivering Ireland’s capacity targets to 2030. This could rise to 50,000 FTE jobs by 2040. In the short term though there is a domestic skills gap, so many of the workers needed to deliver 5GW by 2030 will come from abroad. The government will need to think carefully about how it will attract those workers.
The significant influx of migrant workers to Denmark to build projects such as the Copenhagen Metro offer a compellinginsight. Between 2013 and 2023 migrant workers in Denmark’s construction sector almost tripled due to favourable tax conditions. Some of the key lessons learntduring that time include the need to provide workers withadequate housing, equal pay, union protection and to ensure national safety standards are upheld.
The longer-term plan for Ireland’s supply chain must be to develop capabilities domestically so that as much of the investment is returned to the Irish economy as possible. Skills are needed across the supply chain, from marine ecologists and high voltage engineers to offshore wind technicians. Training programmes delivered through local training centresshould be developed in step with industry to ensure that the right skills are available to contractors at the right time. In addition, most of these workers will need to be trained ininternational safety standards.
Finally, fixed bottom offshore wind is just the beginning. The larger economic opportunity for Ireland remains in floating offshore wind; with investment in R&D, Ireland could become a global leader in floating offshore wind. However, we must walk before we can run. The world is watching as we take our first few steps – we must take them decisively to turn words into wind turbines.
