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The Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021 will facilitate development of offshore wind power. Mary Quaney, CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power, tells Lorna Siggins about policy areas that need to be addressed if Ireland is to meet its Climate Action Plan targets.

When advocates speak of Ireland becoming a 'European renewable energy superpower', Mary Quaney knows what that actually means. As Group Chief Executive Officer of Mainstream Renewable Power, she is not inclined to indulge in hyperbole. Still, she does acknowledge that this is a "very, very exciting time".

Quaney joined Mainstream in 2009, and was the company's Group Chief Financial Officer from 2017. She was appointed to the board in 2019 and was appointed as Chief Executive in August 2020. During this first year in her new role, the company has signed a €1 billion deal with Aker Horizons.

The Norwegian company, founded by Kjell Inge Røkke, one of Norway's most successful businessmen, has taken a 75% equity stake.

"With the Aker Group now as our controlling shareholder we are part of a much larger organisation," she says. "Access to the capital markets provides a very strong point now for us to grow quite significantly over this next period of time, so it's a very exciting phase for Mainstream.

In Association with

"The development, construction and operation of renewable energy is a very capital intensive type of business - particularly in the context of Mainstream's substantial development pipeline.

"Being part of the Aker Group really provides the very strong environment to facilitate deployment of significant amounts of capital, and the synergies within the Aker group are very important," Quaney adds. "We remain a separate company within the Aker Group with our pre-existing brand, identity and management team."

Mainstream still retains 25% retail shareholders, the vast majority of whom are Irish individuals. "We continue to be an Irish headquartered company, combined with a very strong, supportive and ambitious new owner," Quaney explains.

Mary Quaney notes that Ireland has one of the best offshore renewable energy resources anywhere in the world. "We have a sea area of approximately 900,000 square kilometres which, at over ten times the size of our landmass, is one of the largest seabed territories in Europe.

"Ireland also has some of the highest wind resource you'll find anywhere on the globe. The long-term potential is in the region of 75 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power to be realised on the west coast."

The Mainstream CEO also highlights the opportunities to develop and grow supply chains locally. "We have the opportunity to develop an industry sector to rival the tech and pharma industries that have been so successful in Ireland," she says.

"The government has clearly stated that offshore wind is absolutely essential to meeting the overall energy ambition of 70% renewable energy electricity by 2030. With its newly published Climate Bill, the Irish Government aims to reduce total carbon emissions by 51% by 2030 compared to 2018, and commits Ireland to climate neutrality by 2050. So the potential is here for Ireland to become a world leader in offshore wind energy generation."

Marine Governance Reform

The Maritime Area Planning Bill, which Taoiseach Micheál Martin has hailed as "the biggest reform of marine governance in a century", comes before the Oireachtas this term. However, Quaney identifies three policy areas which could prove to be obstacles in meeting the government's climate action plan targets.

Firstly, there is the Government's timeline in establishing the new Marine Area Regulatory Authority (MARA), which is a key piece of the state's new maritime planning legislation.

As part of this, MARA will license large scale projects such as offshore wind farms and electricity interconnectors, planning approval for which will be handled by An Bord Pleanála.

According to Quaney: "Right now, the foreshore department is responsible for survey applications up to the 12 nautical mile limit, but there isn't any mechanism for projects located beyond that. That is effectively prohibited until MARA is up and running. The government has briefed that will take 12 to 18 months at least to get MARA operational following the enactment of the legislation."

Design Flexibility

Mainstream Renewable Power supports Wind Energy Ireland's call for interim measures to be including in the new Bill, which would empower the Minister for Environment to grant survey licences beyond the 12 nautical mile limit until such time as MARA is established.

How the proposed Bill deals with the issues of design flexibility is also an area of concern for the wider industry, she says.

"What we are recommending and what works very well in other jurisdictions is a flexible design approach," Quaney explains. She references a system in Britain known as the 'Rochdale envelope' – so named after two legal cases dealing with outline planning applications for a proposed business park in Rochdale.

"It allows developers, at the submission stage, to build flexibility into concepts for the outline of the wind farm ultimately. In our experience, internationally this is a very tried and trusted and solid approach that provides an appropriate level of flexibility without taking any further environmental risks."

Without such a provision, the resulting planning framework would emerge "very rigid", and result in a process where developers have to reapply for consent if any elements of the design have changed, or there have been technological improvements, which can result in significant delays. In Quaney's view, If Ireland is to meet its climate targets, time is not on our side, so an efficient framework is vital.

Planning Blockages

Earlier this year, the Irish Planning Institute welcomed the National Marine Planning Framework, but cautioned that it would place 'significant resource demand on already over-stretched' planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála.

Quaney believes that Ireland's authorities need to be able to facilitate a smooth, transparent and efficient planning system without delays, given the volume of applications coming through.

England and Wales represent the most mature offshore market, run through the Crown Estate. "There is a very well-established, tried and tested planning system that has enabled an industry to be established in the UK, with a local supply chain and significant creation of jobs," says Quaney.

It is a model Ireland should look towards, she believes, with "industry and government working together from the outset to work through the potential blockages".

Britain's approach also resulted in reducing the cost of developing offshore wind. The UK offshore wind sector is the most advanced globally, and Mainstream has developed about 20% of all of the offshore wind plant in construction and operations in the UK today.

Global Reach

Mainstream Renewable Power's offshore wind heritage dates to the 2003 commissioning of Ireland's first offshore wind farm on the Arklow Bank by its predecessor Airtricity. Since then, the company has developed over 5GW of offshore wind capacity, mostly in the UK.

Today, Mainstream is developing South East Asia's largest offshore wind farm in Vietnam, and the company has a number of other offshore projects in Vietnam in development. In addition, Mainstream is also working on offshore projects in other geographies in Asia Pacific, in the Americas, and across Europe.

"I believe that we're probably one of the most experienced renewables developers active in our home market, and being an Irish company we're very proud of this," she says. "The much bigger opportunity for Ireland is to export renewable energy to Europe.

"The Supergrid concept pioneered by Mainstream Renewable Power founder Eddie O'Connor, and the technology under development by sister company SuperNode, is key to that. With regard to wind energy, the country has an unrivalled geographical position that we may have taken for granted until now."