IF EVER the opportunity for transforming Ireland economically and environmentally via the Shannon Estuary was captured in words, it was on a warm day last June, up river at Ardnacrusha.
Hundreds gathered for the publication of the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce report. The results of which were heralded by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan, who painted a picture of the opportunity that lies ahead. The Shannon Estuary, he said, has the capacity to rebalance the national economy.
Minister Ryan’s sentiments were echoed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as he talked about the Shannon Estuary becoming one of the powerhouses for Ireland’s future economic development.
The Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce report set out the vision for the Shannon Estuary as a leader in floating offshore wind, as well as other opportunities.
This can only happen with Shannon Foynes Port Company, a representative for the semi-state authority (with responsibility for the 500km2 Shannon Estuary) said.
The company’s role Shannon’s future is shaped by its Vision 2041 masterplan, structured around three main drivers for future growth and expansion on the estuary – delivering floating offshore wind at scale, green industrial development and transition and expanded, diversified and more sustainable logistics services.
With an estimated 10 times Ireland’s national energy requirement waiting to be harvested in offshore winds, the company claimed, and the technology to do that through floating wind turbines, the deep sheltered waters of the Shannon Estuary are essential to enable those turbines to be assembled and pulled out to sea.
Shannon Foynes Port Company will be essential for this, it says. With a rail connect soon to be established and a new road connecting the motorway at Adare directly to Foynes, the infrastructural pieces are falling into place for it to become that enabler.
The estuary has among the deepest estuarial waters in Europe and with Ireland’s seabed off the west coast 7.5 times our nation’s landmass, this gives us the potential to become one of Europe’s leading green energy producers and, in the process become a key driver of Europe’s Green Deal.
