Economic opportunity from wind energy in the West of Ireland

BiGGAR Economics has worked with our partners Dublin Offshore Consultants to understand the potential economic impact of the development of the onshore and offshore sectors in the Atlantic region of Ireland.

Current Impact of Wind Energy on the Economy of the Atlantic Region

The wind energy sectors currently support around 840 jobs in the Atlantic Region. The vast majority of these jobs are linked to the development, construction and operation of onshore wind projects in the area.

In 2022 there was an estimated 3.5 GW of onshore wind either operational, under construction or in development in the Atlantic Region. This is equivalent to half of all onshore wind projects in Ireland. These projects drive economic activity through their expenditure and it was estimated that as a result of these projects, €110 million was spent in the Atlantic Region in 2022. It was estimated that this expenditure support 750 jobs across the Atlantic Region in 2022.

The majority of this expenditure and the economic impact of the onshore wind sector is from projects that are under development or under construction. The growth in the capacity of onshore wind is the key driver of these employment impacts.

The offshore wind sector is in the early stages of development in Ireland, particularly across the Atlantic Region. The majority of the opportunities that are associated with the offshore wind sector in Ireland at the development stage are linked with the specialist engineering, marine surveys and professional service sectors. Within Ireland, these industries are currently clustered around Dublin and therefore the majority of the current economic impacts from the offshore wind sector are on the east coast.

However, there is some development activity that is focused on the Atlantic Region, with teams developing potential projects from bases in the area. There are also specialist organisations within the Atlantic Region that are able to support the development of fixed offshore projects on the east coast. In total it was estimated that in 2022, the offshore wind sector supports 90 jobs in the Atlantic Region.

Economic Impact Opportunity from Offshore Wind

The economic impact of the offshore wind sector will grow significantly in the next 15 years. The waters off the west coast of Ireland have a fantastic wind resource and the ocean conditions mean that the vast majority of this will need floating offshore wind farms.

The development of the offshore wind sector in the Atlantic Region could support over 5,000 jobs by 2037.

Our recent analysis of the floating offshore proposals in ScotWind found that developers of floating wind energy will spend £1 billion (€1.2 billion) locally for every GW installed. The structures that the turbines will float on are usually made from a mixture of concrete and steel and developers will often look to manufacture these as close to the wind farm site as possible. This represents a considerable opportunity for engineering jobs and supporting services.

By considering different scenarios (see full report for details), we estimated the potential range of economic activity that would be supported by the development of the offshore and onshore wind energy sectors in the Atlantic Region. This found that the offshore wind sector could support between 2,000 and 5,300 jobs by 2037. These jobs would generate between €170 million and €400 million GVA annually by 2037 for the economy of the Atlantic Region.

A tale of two sectors

In all the scenarios considered as part of this analysis, the contribution of the onshore wind energy sector experiences stagnation or decline. Higher aspirations on the capacity of onshore wind will be needed to continue to see growth in the economic impact of onshore wind. However, the economic opportunities from the development of the offshore wind sector in Ireland are significant, particularly in the Atlantic Region.

For more information on what the development of the wind energy sectors means for the Atlantic Region and the skills required to achieve those goals, the full report is available from the Western Development Commission website: