Ireland – a fast emerging market for offshore wind

'

MRC Global is one of the companies who wants to hit the UK market. PHOTO: Arne Vatnøy/Norwegian Offshore Wind. 

The estimated total capacity in Ireland by 2037 is 8,2 GW. The Irishmen are looking to Norway for supply chain partners.

The first projects will start construction already by 2024.

 -This means that it´s time to build partnerships between the Norwegian supply chain and the planned projects. Ireland is a market which is moving ahead, and we see many opportunities here, says Arvid Nesse, manager of Norwegian Offshore Wind (NOW), and adds:

 - Ireland needs to build a supply chain and extend their port capacity. This gives an opportunity for collaboration between Norwegian and Irish companies

 During 2022, the cluster is planning on several activities to get Norwegian companies into the market. The first one will be a delegation to Cork and Dublin, together with Norwep May 31-June 2. Read more about the program and opportunites here.

Great potential within floating wind

Ireland´s Northern Atlantic Ocean has ideal conditions for floating wind. Near the coast, the water depth is 100-150 meters, and wind speeds range from 10-11 meter per second. In the southern and south-western part, there are ideal conditions as well, with near-coast water depth of 30-50 meters.

 -Also, we see that the Irish government has high ambitions for the renewable sector, with specific targets for the floating sector, says Nesse.

 The government aims to reduce emmisions by 70 percent before 2030.  5 GW of renewables is expected to come from offshore energy.

 

Projects in the pipe line

Estimated construction start for projects such as Dublin Array, Codling Park and Aklow Bank 2. This implies that wind farm projects in Ireland with total capacity of 4 GW will start construction by 2027. 895 MW and 2 100 MW will start construction in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

 The most mature projects are now in the consenting process, which means that all type of studies for this process is on demand. The number of turbines that is being installed in the projects Dublin Array, Codling Park and Aklow Bank 2 are more than 250.

Related articles