May 26, 2026 · 38 min · 11 segments
The first live reNEWS Podcast recorded at Wind Energy Ireland Offshore 2026 in Dublin. Editor Stephen Dunne interviews Statkraft wind and solar SVP Kevin O'Donovan about the current state of offshore…
Kevin O'DonovanGuest
Stephen DunneHost
Listen, you can put your questions in in the normal way via Slido on the C Event app, and we'll get to them if we have time later.
Uh, he talked about delivery over the next four or five years, and he talked about the big picture out into the next decade with the DMAPs and so on.
I mean, as we sit here today in 2026, what's your view of the big picture, and what's your immediate reaction to the minister's comments?
Well, well, uh, like, he started very strong on the need for, uh, delivery, and we're in a, I think he called it at the end as well, a delivery phase, and that's really, really key.
But the blunt piece from me is that if we don't deliver the phase one projects in a reasonable timeline, well, everything else is not really going to deliver anything.
Um, when you think of it, you've, you've got the phase one projects and, and now Tonanua.
There isn't some nirvana of water that none of us have discovered that is, like, 20 meters depth and has a perfect, uh, grid connection into a connection point where there's loads of capacity to take that power.
So if we cannot deliver the phase ones, which, you know, in general, I would say probably the, the majority of the lead offshore, uh, companies, uh, in, in, in Europe, then who's going to look at doing, uh, future sites and looking at future DMAP areas and all that? So, so, so I think the minister was trying to outline a big long-term picture, but the focus really needs to move to that delivery of phase one, and that's why I guess it's pillar number one in, in, in the WEI's, uh, offshore plan.
But I, I really think we need to move from saying we want to do it to actually addressing what's delaying getting it done.
Are you concerned that, that any of the, the resources that are being expended, whether it be DMAPs or, or, you know, 2030 onwards, that, that that's coming at the expense of dealing with delivery now and dealing with the phase ones?
I think there's a hell of a lot of focus, uh, being taken on delivering, uh, a long-term solution and so forth.
And, like, if, if you think of, uh, let's say when the RES one auction was set up, the idea of that was to, to do some things fast to get projects delivered quickly.
Um, and I think we still need that attitude for phase one, and I think we moved away a little bit from it.
So whether it's designing the grid, whether it's dealing with the planning, whether it's dealing with, um, kind of that, that just supply chain and delivering, uh, uh, um, an offshore sector long term, like, that focus needs to be super, super concentrated in my mind on the phase ones.
So on phase ones, I mean, and on delivery, when I first started writing about wind, you and everybody else in this room battered me over the head to say, "You need lots of things to go right, but you need three things in particular.
On planning, I mean, I looked it up this morning, and your project, Neasa, uh, I think next month will be two years before the board.
Listen, you can put your questions in in the normal way via Slido on the C Event app, and we'll get to them if we have time later.
Uh, he talked about delivery over the next four or five years, and he talked about the big picture out into the next decade with the DMAPs and so on.
I mean, as we sit here today in 2026, what's your view of the big picture, and what's your immediate reaction to the minister's comments?
Well, well, uh, like, he started very strong on the need for, uh, delivery, and we're in a, I think he called it at the end as well, a delivery phase, and that's really, really key.
But the blunt piece from me is that if we don't deliver the phase one projects in a reasonable timeline, well, everything else is not really going to deliver anything.
Um, when you think of it, you've, you've got the phase one projects and, and now Tonanua.
There isn't some nirvana of water that none of us have discovered that is, like, 20 meters depth and has a perfect, uh, grid connection into a connection point where there's loads of capacity to take that power.
So if we cannot deliver the phase ones, which, you know, in general, I would say probably the, the majority of the lead offshore, uh, companies, uh, in, in, in Europe, then who's going to look at doing, uh, future sites and looking at future DMAP areas and all that? So, so, so I think the minister was trying to outline a big long-term picture, but the focus really needs to move to that delivery of phase one, and that's why I guess it's pillar number one in, in, in the WEI's, uh, offshore plan.
But I, I really think we need to move from saying we want to do it to actually addressing what's delaying getting it done.
Are you concerned that, that any of the, the resources that are being expended, whether it be DMAPs or, or, you know, 2030 onwards, that, that that's coming at the expense of dealing with delivery now and dealing with the phase ones?
I think there's a hell of a lot of focus, uh, being taken on delivering, uh, a long-term solution and so forth.
And, like, if, if you think of, uh, let's say when the RES one auction was set up, the idea of that was to, to do some things fast to get projects delivered quickly.
Um, and I think we still need that attitude for phase one, and I think we moved away a little bit from it.
So whether it's designing the grid, whether it's dealing with the planning, whether it's dealing with, um, kind of that, that just supply chain and delivering, uh, uh, um, an offshore sector long term, like, that focus needs to be super, super concentrated in my mind on the phase ones.
So on phase ones, I mean, and on delivery, when I first started writing about wind, you and everybody else in this room battered me over the head to say, "You need lots of things to go right, but you need three things in particular.
On planning, I mean, I looked it up this morning, and your project, Neasa, uh, I think next month will be two years before the board.
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