Badly. The last offshore wind auction (Round 4) in the UK resulted in a strike price of around €40/MWh, which is less than half of what Ireland recently achieved. The locations selected by the UK government for offshore wind were in areas approximately 45 km from shore and, in some cases, up to 135 km from shore. These projects would have incurred higher capital expenditure costs due to the distance from shore so the lower strike price achieved by the UK government is even more impressive. It is important to remember that the UK mainland is less than 100 km from Ireland and the same energy companies are involved. So why is Ireland’s offshore renewable energy so expensive?

The four Irish projects awarded contracts from Eirgrid are located approximately 10 km from shore, on shallow Annex 1 sandbanks and inshore fishing grounds. These locations should represent the cheapest option for developers, begging the question as to why the Irish offshore electricity strike price from ORESS1 is so expensive, at €86/MWh.