9th February 2024
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, is in Scotland to visit Kincardine Floating Offshore Wind Farm and the Fraserburgh Operations and Maintenance Centre for Moray East Offshore Wind Farm.
Ireland has an ambition to have 5GW of offshore wind in operation by 2030 with a further 2GW in development. By 2040, the ambition is to have 20GW of offshore wind deployed with the target rising to 37GW by 2050.
Speaking during the visit, Minister Coveney said;
“Scotland has already developed several offshore wind farms and there is much we can learn from their experiences. This visit has been hugely informative in terms of seeing at first hand the technology in operation and hearing from industry experts ahead of publishing our own offshore wind industrial strategy.
“We also discussed the potential for collaboration between Ireland and Scotland on a range of offshore wind-focussed matters such as building a successful supply chain and optimising Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) initiatives.”
Kincardine is 15 kilometres off the coast of Aberdeen and is the largest floating offshore windfarm in the world. Fraserburgh is the nerve centre for the 950MW Moray East Offshore Wind Farm, operated by Ocean Winds.
The visit was facilitated by Bord na Móna and Ocean Winds, who have formed a partnership to leverage Ireland’s offshore wind power resources. The Minister also met with representatives from Principle Power, who have designed floating platforms for offshore wind turbines and Farra Marine, an Irish company involved in providing crew transfers to the offshore wind farms.
Minister Coveney added;
“The operations centre here in Fraserburgh is a good example of how developments like this can impact positively on a small coastal community, providing jobs and other economic benefits. As we develop wind farms around our coast there will be opportunities for local communities in terms of operating and maintaining these facilities as well as transporting workers to and from installations.”
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is currently developing Ireland’s first Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy and it is expected to be published next month. Its publication will be in tandem with the publication of the Offshore Renewable Energy Future Framework Policy Statement by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
ENDS
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