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Enabling the low-carbon transition – Irish Renewable Energy Summit

Tuesday 1 November 2016

The 2016 Irish Renewable Energy Summit takes place on Tuesday, 13 December 2016 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, Dublin. It will provide a valuable opportunity to bring together the key stakeholders from across the energy sector, and those who interact with the energy sector to discuss how the contribution from renewable energy can be maximised and implemented most effectively. Ireland faces challenging energy and climate challenges with a binding EU target of 16 per cent of final energy use and 10 per cent of energy use in transport to come from renewables by 2020. In addition, there is a national target to reduce energy demand by 20 per cent and sub-targets have been set of 12 per cent for heat and 40 per cent for electricity. Coupled with this, we now have the additional challenges associated with the COP 21 climate deal. The move towards carbon neutrality will mean major changes in every greenhouse gas-emitting sector, particularly energy. While Ireland is, in many ways, leading the way in terms of renewables, this has largely been focused on electricity, with much less progress having been made in the areas of renewable heat and transport. Ireland is currently just over half way towards meeting its 2020 renewable energy target, with 8.6 per cent of final energy consumption coming from renewables in 2014. This comprises 5 per cent renewable electricity, 2.5 per cent renewable heat and 1.1 per cent renewable transport. Overall the picture is very clear – Ireland is making good progress but has much more to do in order to capture the environmental, economic and societal benefits associated with the move towards a low-carbon economy. In particular, significant efforts will be required in looking beyond electricity, to meet the challenging transport and heat targets. A wide range of energy technologies will be required and a portfolio approach will be needed, taking into account onshore and offshore wind, solar, bioenergy, marine renewables – and, importantly, the valuable role energy storage will have to play.

Conference themes

Bob Hanna, chief technical advisor at the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, will start proceedings with an overview of the day. Then, the first session will address global and Irish energy outlooks, as well as an address from John Melvin of the Commission for Energy Regulation, looking at the regulatory environment for renewable sectors. The second session will address primarily how best to extract full value from our existing renewable offer, and what is needed in terms of investment and policy reform to support further growth. Ivan Pineda from WindEurope will address how wind assets can be repowered to provide greater efficiency, Ian Kilgallon from Gas Networks Ireland will present the linkages renewable gas can offer between the energy and agriculture sectors. From Scottish Enterprise, Jan Reid will speak on ocean energy, a field in which Scotland leads the way. A parallel session will run in the late morning entitled ‘Capturing the economic benefits from renewables’. This session will focus on how industry can adopt clean methods of energy generation while supporting job growth and innovation. Denis Naughten TD, Minister for Communications, Climate Action & Environment, will lead off the afternoon session, speaking on the transition that Ireland finds itself in, and how the state is managing the adoption of a cleaner energy commitment. We will have a case study presented by Morten Baek, director general of the Danish Energy Agency, as well as a look at community-energy projects and an overview of various renewable technologies. Visiting speakers:

Tomi Motoi, Renewable Energy Markets Team, International Energy Agency
Ivan Pineda, director, Members & Markets, WindEurope
Morten Baek, director general, Danish Energy Agency
David Robinson, senior research fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Jan Reid, senior manager, Marine Energy & Low Carbon Technologies, Scottish Enterprise

To view the entire conference programme, please click here.

Networking opportunity and exhibition

While there will be much knowledge disseminated in the formal conference sessions, the renewable energy summit allows for the energy sector and connected sub-industries to connect and discuss the pressing industry matters at hand. The conference brings together the key movers and shakers in Irish energy affording them the opportunity to network and socialise as well as engage in the informal discussions that in this still burgeoning sector, can lead to the forging of important new relationships and initiatives. The renewable energy summit offers an excellent platform for companies wishing to profile their goods and services to a key audience of renewable sector decision-makers. An attractive exhibition place at the conference provides a valuable opportunity for making contacts, networking and lobbying. There are a limited number of high quality exhibition spaces still available at this year’s conference. Ten reasons you should book your place now! 1. Hear latest government policy for the renewable energy sector 2. Understand the global outlook for renewables 3. Look beyond onshore wind: Solar, bioenergy and marine renewables 4. Discuss the regulatory framework for renewables 5. Learn about the economic contribution from renewable energy 6. Ireland’s major annual renewable energy conference – all key players attend 7. Excellent networking and business development opportunities 8. Lively exhibition area 9. High profile visiting experts presenting external perspectives 10. Opportunities for Q&A and direct engagement with speakers For more information on the Irish renewable energy summit or to view the full conference programme, go to the website http://www.irishrenewableenergy.energyireland.ie/. To book a place at the conference, call us on +353 (0)1 661 3755.