Ireland plans offshore windfarms

Harland & Wolff told edie it has signed a co-operation agreement with Treasury Holdings, to apply for licenses to develop two windfarms off the Irish coast, each with a capacity of 1.2MW.
H&W says that Treasury Holdings already have licences to build two onland windfarms. However, Treasury Holdings refused to disclose any details of its plans to build windfarms in Ireland. The firm’s spokesperson, Doreen Walker, said that it had projects in the planning application phase that are in a critical 28-day period where anyone could raise objections, and therefore could not comment.

According to Reuters, the firm has already agreed to build windfarms in Cork in southern Ireland and Donegal and Leitrim on the border with Northern Ireland.

Although Ireland has some of the most favourable wind conditions in Europe, only just over 1% of its electricity is currently produced by windpower. According to the Irish Wind Energy Association, just over 1% of Ireland’s electricity is currently produced from wind energy. IWEA believes that it could produce 25% of Ireland’s electricity at low cost and with no impact to the environment. It has called on the Government to “review problems in relation to the planning process which hamper the development of wind farms.”