Tuesday 21 February | 10.30am – 12.30pm
Join RenewableNI’s renewable energy seminar aimed at engaging, educating and stimulating debate in the renewable electricity industry.
This session focused on the Offshore Renewable Energy Action Plan (OREAP) for Northern Ireland that is currently out for public consultation.
RenewableNI will be leading the industry response to the Department for the Economy’s Consultation, which closes in March.
The draft OREAP sets out the direction for planning, licensing, consenting and the development of offshore renewable energy in Northern Ireland.
A number of offshore projects for wind turbines in the Irish Sea connecting to the Northern Ireland grid are already beginning the process of environmental impact assessments, natural habitat studies and consultations with coastal communities and fishing organisations.
As part of this seminar, audience heard from Sam McCloskey, Simply Blue, on their Olympic and Nomadic Offshore Wind projects, with a 1.3GW capacity.
Koichi Samuels ,Offshore Renewable Energy Lead, Department for the Economy, spoke about OREAP and took questions from the audience.
A&L Goodbody’s Mark Stockdale deliverd a legal overview and the potentials of offshore wind.
The OREAP seminar expect speakers
Sam McCloskey BSc, MSc, CEnv, FEI
Country Director, Simply Blue Group
Sam joined Simply Blue Group on a full-time basis in January 2023 to head up the Northern Ireland office and has responsibility for a project portfolio including Nomadic and Olympic floating offshore wind farms.
She has a 25+ year career in environmental and sustainability including 18 years in senior consultancy roles for WYG and Tetra Tech and 10 years as Director of the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy. .She has been intrinsically involved in project management in the offshore renewable energy sector for over the past decade, leading projects in tidal energy research and on secondment to Simply Blue Group in an advisory capacity through her role as Director of Sustainability & Climate Resilience for Tetra Tech.
Sam has led a number of multi-million pound sustainability projects for a range of private and public sector clients and within academia and she has insight on ESG issues from the boardroom to the construction site. She is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and is a member of the Northern Ireland branch committee.
Koichi Samuels
Offshore Wind, Department for the Economy
Koichi is a civil servant working as Offshore Renewable Energy Lead within the Renewable Electricity Team at Department for Economy NI (DfE).
Koichi has a multidisciplinary background with six years working in academia as a social researcher before leading a number of third and private sector projects across social policy, creative economy and sustainable development. Koichi has worked with DfE since 2021 in policy development for renewable electricity towards the Energy Strategy for Northern Ireland, and then led on the development of the Draft Offshore Renewable Energy Action Plan, which was published in December 2022.
Mark Stockdale,
Corporate Partner, A&L Goodbody
Mark Stockdale is a corporate partner in A&L Goodbody’s Northern Ireland office, with particular expertise in the energy and infrastructure sectors. He has extensive experience advising sponsors, lenders and developers on the financing and construction of large scale infrastructure projects, particularly in the natural gas and renewables sectors.
Mark also advises on the acquisition and sale of large scale infrastructure projects, complex contracts and on joint ventures. In addition, Mark is one of the leading experts on energy regulation in Northern Ireland.
