Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
290. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Climate; Energy and the Environment the status of all proposed offshore wind farm projects off the Irish coast; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39467/26]
View answer291. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Climate; Energy and the Environment the status of grid connection arrangements for offshore wind projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39468/26]
View answer292. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Climate; Energy and the Environment if the State remains on track to meet its offshore wind targets for 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39469/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 290, 291 and 292 together.
The Climate Action Plan identifies a target of 5GW of offshore wind capacity for 2030 and Government is implementing a cross Departmental offshore wind programme to progress the delivery of this infrastructure.
Five offshore wind projects off our East coast, with a planned capacity of 3.8GW, are at present in development. Each of these projects holds a provisional grid connection offer which will be finalised after planning consent. The first planning determinations are anticipated before the end of 2026, and the remainder in the first half of 2027. Subject to planning approval, I anticipate that these five projects will be in procurement and construction over the coming years and be operational in the early 2030s.
In December 2025, I announced that Helvick Head DAC, a consortium of ESB and Orsted, had won my Department’s second offshore wind auction and will be developing the Tonn Nua 900 megawatt project off the coast of Waterford. The Tonn Nua project was awarded a MAC in March 2026.
Under the Phase Two Offshore Wind Policy, EirGrid as transmission system operator is responsible for constructing the Tonn Nua offshore transmission assets and has committed to making a grid connection available by 2033, as specified in the Tonn Nua terms and conditions. Tonn Nua was the first of four sites to be brought to auction from the South Coast DMAP.
My Department is engaged in planning for auction of the next South Coast DMAP site, Lí Ban. My Department is commissioning site specific engineering surveys and regional level biological surveys to support that auction and is working with EirGrid to develop grid connection options for Lí Ban and the remaining two sites of the South Coast DMAP. I will be publishing further updates on plans for the Lí Ban auction over the course of this year.
My Department is also advancing work on a National DMAP that will provide sufficient additional sites around our coast to facilitate up to 20GW of offshore wind by 2040. Stakeholder workshops have taken place over recent months and technical work on site selection is ongoing. A public consultation will be undertaken in 2027.
