Fugro to Carry Out Marine Mammal Monitoring for Irish Offshore Wind Grid Connection

Fugro will conduct a long-term marine mammal monitoring campaign in Ireland under a two-year environmental services contract with EirGrid for the offshore wind grid connection infrastructure the transmission system operator (TSO) plans along Ireland’s south coast.

The Dutch company will deploy and maintain a network of eight seabed monitoring stations equipped with underwater acoustic sensors designed to detect and record whales, dolphins and porpoises. The campaign also marks the first commercial deployment of Fugro’s newly developed mooring system, according to the company.

The monitoring work will support environmental assessments for offshore transmission infrastructure planned as part of EirGrid’s South Coast offshore grid programme, which is expected to enable the connection of around 900 MW of offshore wind capacity.

Fugro said the monitoring systems will collect long-term data on cetacean activity, including harbour porpoises, which are known to inhabit the area. The company will periodically recover and analyse the data, providing EirGrid with annual reports on species presence and distribution.

The contract builds on Fugro’s seven-year framework agreement with EirGrid, signed in 2025, which covers marine site investigations and related offshore services.

In November last year, EirGrid completed the first phase of marine and coastal surveys along Ireland’s south coast, which includes cable route corridor options from Maritime Area A, or Tonn Nua, offshore wind area of the Irish Government’s South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan (SC-DMAP).

The work covered geophysical, environmental and metocean surveys around potential subsea cable route corridor options in Maritime Area A, as well as intertidal non-intrusive landfall investigations.

Also in November 2025, the joint venture between ESB and Ørsted was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) for the 900 MW fixed-bottom offshore wind farm at the Tonn Nua site by the Irish Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.

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