Ireland’s Offshore Wind Strategy Powers Ahead: Major Actions Achieved in Progress Report

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, has announced the publication of the Powering Prosperity Implementation Progress Report for April 2025, which highlights significant milestones in Ireland’s journey towards becoming a global leader in offshore renewable energy.

Ireland has set ambitious targets to deliver at least 37GW of offshore renewable energy by 2050. The availability of abundant, reliable green energy will drive clean, sustainable growth in energy-intensive sectors, together with numerous opportunities for economic growth and job creation.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment launched Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy in March 2024, setting out to capture the value of the country’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) supply chain and maximise the economic impact of Ireland’s renewable energy goals. Over the past 12 months, substantial progress has been made, with 38 of the 40 actions outlined in the strategy either completed or underway.

The Implementation Progress Report, which was launched at WindEurope in Copenhagen, a major event in the wind energy industry attracting around 16,000 delegates each year, provided status updates on Powering Prosperity actions such delivering long-term funding options to support the scaling of Irish offshore wind supply chain companies. Notably, two significant projects received funding packages of over €1 million and €2 million, respectively.

It also highlighted how the development of an Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (OWCE) is well underway, with initial funding allocated and a steering group formed to drive the project. An annual joint offshore renewable energy event has been established with Scotland, with the inaugural event, “Advancing the Offshore Wind Opportunity: Bridging Irish and Scottish Perspectives,” held in Dublin and Cork in June 2024.

Another key action was the Offshore RD&I Showcase and Access to Finance Event, which highlighted supports available to organisations along the offshore wind supply chain, promoting participation in research, development, and innovation programmes.

Highlighting the significant progress made and work underway to deliver Ireland’s offshore wind ambitions, Minister Burke said

“Powering Prosperity’s first Implementation Progress Report is a strong signal of the momentum that is gathering behind Ireland’s offshore wind sector. Considerable progress has been made over the last year in Irish offshore wind, and our strong enterprise base in this sector is continuing to grow.

It is vital that this work continues at pace across Government to ensure that we are well positioned to capture the full economic, environmental and regional development benefits offered by this significant opportunity and that we overcome any remaining challenges that might impede our continued progress. This Government will continue to work alongside industry and the research community towards our shared goal of a successful, resilient Irish offshore wind sector.”

Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy Darragh O’Brien said:

‘‘Developing an offshore wind sector requires an all-of-government approach and a whole-of-economy mobilisation. By implementing an offshore wind industrial strategy, our colleagues in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are ensuring that Ireland will be in a strong position to build a successful and resilient supply chain for offshore wind. Ahead of expected growth in the offshore sector in the coming years, it’s vital that expertise in areas such as research and development extend to the offshore wind sector so we can take advantage of Ireland’s offshore wind potential.

‘‘It’s clear that the implementation of actions in this progress report, along with the implementation of actions from the ‘Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy Policy’, published by my own department last year, will help Ireland deliver its ambitious long-term targets for offshore wind.’’

Timmy Dooley, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, who will be attending the WindEurope Annual Event later this week, said:

‘‘Ireland is already a global leader for installed onshore wind power capacity and for the integration of variable renewable electricity onto the grid. The publication of this progress report comes on the back of a number of significant milestones achieved in Ireland’s offshore wind sector, including; the publication of Ireland’s first spatial plan for offshore wind – the South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan; and the agreed terms and conditions of Ireland’s second offshore wind auction, which will take place later this year. In the coming weeks, we will also publish a ‘Roadmap for Future Designated Maritime Area Plans’, which will provide additional certainty for the offshore renewable sector.”

Work will continue on implementing the remaining actions by the end of this year, as set out in Powering Prosperity.

For more information and to access the report, visit Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy Implementation Progress Report.