The Irish government has approved the terms and conditions of Ireland’s second offshore wind auction under the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS). The qualification phase for the auction is expected to open in the first quarter of 2025, with the bidding phase planned for the second quarter of next year.

The site the government will offer, named Tonn Nua (New Wave), is located off the coast of County Waterford, spans 306 square kilometres and can house 900 MW of installed offshore wind capacity.

While this will be Ireland’s second offshore wind auction, it will be the first to be held within the country’s first spatial plan for offshore renewable energy (ORE) development, the South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan (SC DMAP) which was approved by the Oireachtas on 10 October^[1].

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According to the government, the South Coast DMAP is a landmark development in forward spatial planning and central to the plan-led approach to ORE, adopted by the government last year.

“Protecting the marine environment and biodiversity and supporting citizens reliant on the sea for their livelihood are central to the sustainable development of the State’s ORE potential”, the Irish government stated in a press release from 31 October.

Besides the soon-to-be-awarded Tonn Nua, the South Coast DMAP contains three more offshore wind sites: the 368-square-kilometre Lí Ban off the coast of County Waterford, and the 341-square-kilometre Manannán and 300-square-kilometre Danu, both located offshore County Wexford.

The requirements for the Tonn Nua winner include establishing a community benefit fund, with around EUR 7 million per year to be paid into the fund over 20 years to communities of the south coast. The fund will support the sustainable environmental, economic, social, and cultural well-being of the local community, with grants to local clubs and other community groups and projects, according to the government.

“I have every confidence that Tonn Nua will build upon the success of our first offshore auction in 2023, ORESS 1, which overperformed all expectations and will save Irish electricity consumers hundreds of millions of euros every year. Offshore wind is good for customers, good for the environment and good for business”, said Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

In the first offshore wind auction (ORESS 1), held in 2023, the Irish government procured nearly 3.1 GW of generation capacity across four projects at an average price of EUR 86.05/MWh.

Earlier this year, Minister Ryan launched the Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy^[2], which sets out the pathway Ireland will take to deliver 20 GW of offshore wind by 2040 and at least 37 GW in total by 2050. 

In September, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Irish Department of Transport established an advisory cooperation^[3] to assess capacity, demand and financing strategies for the development of port infrastructure for offshore wind projects in Irish waters.

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