Construction BUSINESS

Ireland’s Department of Transport is supporting applications for offshore wind port facilities under the 2023 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), writes David Keniry.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD has confirmed to David Stanton TD in the Dáil that Department officials have been liaising with applicants to ensure their applications to this call are of a high quality and meet the requirements set out by the European Commission.

The application process closes on 30 January 2024 with results of this call expected to be published in the summer of 2024. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the EU’s funding instrument to support projects on the Trans-European Transport Network. Under the current CEF programme, funds can be awarded to projects supporting the development of port facilities related to the transportation activities of offshore wind farms.

“Therefore, access to CEF or other grant funding is vitally important to eligible ports,” Ryan said.

With the assistance of the Department two projects from Ireland were awarded funding in 2023 under the 2022 CEF Transport call:

• Doyle Shipping Group was awarded €2.5 million towards studies looking at the redevelopment and expansion of the existing port facilities in Cork to support the development of offshore wind energy.
• Irish Rail was awarded €2.5 million towards studies aimed to develop facilities to support offshore renewable energy at Rosslare Europort.

Ryan added that: “The need to maximise financing opportunities for ports is recognised by my Department and to that end, in addition to its support for ports as part of the CEF process, the department continues to engage with all industry stakeholders. This includes potential financing partners such as the EU (via Connecting Europe Facility), Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) – looking at viable projects, capable of generating a commercial return.”

As part of its role, NewERA is assisting the Department in relation to the assessment of capital investment plans (and the financing of this capital investment) for the development of port infrastructure to enable the development of offshore renewable energy. NewERA provides financial and commercial advice to the relevant Government Ministers and Departments in relation to commercial State companies across a range of sectors.

The relevant ports within NewERA’s remit include Dublin Port, Port of Cork, Port of Waterford, Rosslare Port and Shannon Foynes Port Company. NewERA has also agreed to examine proposals from private sector ports.

Meanwhile, Ryan has also confirmed to Stanton that the Future Framework Policy for Offshore Wind policy will be published for consultation in January 2024, before consideration by Government and publication in March 2024, to coincide with the publication of the Industrial Strategy Roadmap by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. To provide further market confidence and to enhance inward investment, the policy will be submitted for Oireachtas approval and an international launch is planned at the Wind Europe conference in March 2024.

The Future Framework Policy will consider the potential of floating offshore wind as a feasible technology. It will provide an evidence-based framework to support post 2030 development of Offshore Renewable Energy and for the inclusion of floating offshore wind in those plans.