Innogy is planning to commence stakeholder and community consultations for the Dublin Array offshore wind project in Ireland early this autumn.
The wind farm is currently in the development phase, and data gathering will continue until the summer to refresh the environmental reporting and project design, innogy said.
Ecological surveys are also underway in the Irish Sea off the Dublin and Wicklow coast to provide information on seabirds and marine mammal species to inform project development.
The investigations began in June last year and are scheduled to run until September 2020.
Subject to an updated consent application and investment decision, construction could begin in 2024, with commissioning in 2026.
As reported , Dublin Array constitutes two of the seven projects recently selected by the Irish government to be fast-tracked through the new marine planning regime.
“We welcome the Government’s commitment to progressing the Climate Action Plan targets, and particularly the development of offshore wind in Ireland,” said Dublin Array Project Director, Peter Lefroy .
“Covid-19 has created great uncertainty in many industries and we recognise the Government’s efforts to continue to move forward under such difficult circumstances. This announcement helps maintain important momentum in Ireland’s offshore wind sector and will drive investment and job creation in Ireland in the coming years.”
Dublin Array, owned by innogy and Saorgus Energy, has a potential capacity of between 600 MW and 1,000 MW.