Communities along the coast which host offshore wind farm projects will receive up to €20m in annual funding under new plans announced by Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan.

Under the plans, offshore wind farms will be required to make substantial annual contributions to community benefit funds.

The payments for projects in an advanced stage could commence from 2025, with the wind farms expected to provide the payments for up to 25 years.

Contributions

Contributions to these funds will be determined by the amount of energy generated, with €2 required to be paid for every megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated over the lifetime of the support scheme.

Given the anticipated high levels of offshore generation, the government expectS that the amounts involved will be substantial.

For example, a typical 500MW offshore wind project would pay €4m per annum into a community fund.

Support scheme

In November 2022, the government launched its first offshore competition under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS 1).

Here, developers of offshore wind projects bid against each other for government support. ORESS 1 is expected to deliver up to 2,500MW of offshore wind capacity.

Assuming an average capacity factor of 45%, these projects will generate 9,855,000MWh per annum and €19,710,000 in community benefit contributions per annum.