The Oriel Windfarm has successfully concluded a month long geotechnical survey campaign during March. It was performed by Geoquip AS, an experienced offshore contractor headquartered in Switzerland.
This work complements last year’s geophysical survey campaign completed during August 2019 by Irish company Alpha Marine. The data collected during these surveys is essential as it not only contributes to the foundation design but also to the future wind farm layout.
“Lead developer Parkwind and its partner ESB continue to invest in these crucial surveys to be in a position to deliver on the timing for offshore wind put forward by the Irish government in its Climate Action Plan and leading up to the RESS auction scheduled for 2021,” said Peter Caluwaerts, Parkwind’s Project Director.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis in the midst of the geotechnical campaign led to the implementation of strict additional safety measures on board to ensure operations were executed in a safe manner. This included the requirement for the drilling ship to stay offshore for the duration of the campaign.
“We would like to thank the fishing communities in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for their constructive attitude and collaboration throughout the duration of these activities,” added Garrett Connell, Project Manager. “Their support has helped us complete this crucial project step enabling us to continue the project design phase and we are fully committed to continue our collaboration and build on this positive engagement as we move the project forward.”
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About Oriel Windfarm
The Oriel offshore wind farm is in the development stage and is located approximately 22km off the coast of Dundalk. It represents a significant investment in the decarbonisation of the Irish electricity system and represents a significant investment from both ESB and Parkwind. Development of the project began in 2003 and the original investors, many of whom are local to the area, secured an experienced and responsible development partner when Parkwind entered the project in September 2017. The addition of ESB to the joint venture further reinforces the parties commitment to successfully delivering this major investment in Ireland’s sustainable future. For more information, see www.orielwindfarm.ie.
About ESB
ESB operates across the electricity market: from generation, through transmission and distribution to the supply of customers with an expanding presence in the Great Britain generation market. In addition we extract further value through supplying gas, energy services and using our networks to carry fibre for telecommunications. ESB is the owner of the distribution and transmission networks in the Republic of Ireland (via ESB Networks) and Northern Ireland (via Northern Ireland Electricity Networks Ltd). In 2017 it had a 42% share of generation in the all-island market (via Generation and Wholesale Markets) and a 34% share of electricity supply in the all-island market(via Electric Ireland) with 1.4 million customer accounts. \
ESB is a leading developer of renewable power projects in both the UK and Ireland and in 2018, it acquired a 12.5 per cent stake in Galloper offshore wind farm.
ESB contributes almost €2 billion annually to the Irish economy through dividends, investments, taxes and jobs. ESB provides significant employment both directly, with over 7,790 employees, and indirectly through contractors and service providers. For more information, see www.esb.ie