SSE Renewables Unveils Plans for Wind Farm Offshore Ireland's Atlantic Coast | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND
SSE Renewables Unveils Plans for Wind Farm Offshore Ireland's Atlantic Coast | Offshore Wind
SSE Renewables Unveils Plans for Wind Farm Offshore Ireland’s Atlantic Coast
SSE Renewables is seeking an investigative foreshore licence to facilitate survey work for a possible new offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Tarbert, Co. Kerry, Ireland.
SSE Renewables has recently submitted an application for an investigative foreshore licence to Ireland’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and is seeking approval for investigative surveys of the seabed for an offshore wind project which could generate up to 1 GW of energy.
These geophysical, geotechnical, and environmental surveys are required to inform the renewable energy developer’s understanding of the prevailing environmental and met-ocean conditions at the foreshore investigative array area, which is a minimum of 13 kilometres offshore.
This marks SSE Renewables’ first licence application for an offshore wind project off the west coast of Ireland.
The company is developing an Irish offshore pipeline of up to 4 GW, which includes the country’s most advanced offshore project, Arklow Bank Wind Park 2, off the coast of Wicklow, and the Celtic Sea Array and Setanta Wind Park projects which are located off Ireland’s south and north-east coasts respectively.
”Our plans to develop an offshore wind project off the coast of Tarbert, Co. Kerry is a natural step forward in our renewables ambitions for Ireland,” Martin Sweeney, SSE Renewables Lead Project Manager for Blue Seas Development (Ireland), said.
”This will be our first project in the Atlantic Ocean and our experience in developing our Ossian project in the North Sea off Scotland, one of the world’s largest floating offshore wind developments, will be invaluable as we look to leverage the energy potential off Ireland’s west coast. Pursuing development opportunities off the west coast is part of our long-term offshore wind strategy in Ireland. The selection of this site off the coast of Tarbert allows us to leverage SSE’s existing energy infrastructure in north Kerry and maximise the use of complementary technologies.”
SSE developed Ireland’s first and only operating offshore wind farm, the Arklow Bank Phase 1, in partnership with GE Energy.
Commissioned in 2004, the 25.2 MW wind farm comprises seven 3 MW wind turbines installed off the coast of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, and was developed as a demonstrator project to prove the viability of offshore wind energy for Ireland.
The wind farm is owned and operated by GE Energy.
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Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.