Irish Reveal 1 GW Floating Offshore Wind Project

Simply Blue Energy has submitted an application to the Irish Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage to carry out site investigations for a potential floating offshore wind project off Kinsale.

The Emerald project, which would use Principle Power’s WindFloat floating foundations, is expected to have a total capacity of up to 1 GW.

The work will include geophysical, geotechnical, ecological and metocean marine surveys at the site located near the Kinsale gas field in the Celtic Sea off Ireland’s south coast.

Activities are planned to begin in summer 2021 with a staged series of investigations over the subsequent five years as the project reaches the detailed design stage.

According to Simply Blue Energy, the project will be delivered as a staged development starting with a demonstration array of approximately 100 MW and building to the overall capacity of 1 GW.

Public consultations on the application began on 6 July and will end on 4 August.

Recently, Simply Blue Energy established a partnership with Total to develop the 96 MW Erebus floating wind farm, which would also use the WindFloat technology.