The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Frank Fahey, has signed the first lease for an offshore wind farm - the 520-megawatt project drawn up by Eirtricity for the Arklow Bank. By Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
The 200-turbine project will span 27 kilometres and will be located between seven and 10 kilometres off the Co Wicklow coastline. Each turbine is 110 metres high to the tip of the blade and the development has been billed as the "world's largest", although several large-scale projects have been proposed for the Scottish coast as part of a "Celtic ring" grid connection project.
The Minister said he was "optimistic" that the project would be the first of many and would help to establish the Republic as a world leader in the industry. There are only 20 offshore developments worldwide, all located in northern Europe.
When completed, the Arklow Bank's project aims to produce three times the combined capacity of all offshore farms currently in production. The cost will exceed €630 million (£496 million) and Eirtricity hopes to begin construction in the spring - with generation from the first phase of 60 megawatts by the third quarter of this year.
Enron Wind, a subsidiary of the troubled US energy giant Enron Corp, has been given the contract to supply the turbines for the project. A spokeswoman for Eirtricity said yesterday it had been assured that the subsidiary was not affected by the bankruptcy filing and Eirtricity was confident the contract would be fulfilled. She said the quality of the technology was at the cutting edge. Some 360 full-time jobs will be created during the first phase of construction, while there will be 23 permanent jobs, according to the company.
"The development of major offshore wind energy parks will be the biggest energy revolution since the internal combustion engine," said Dr Eddie O'Connor, managing director of Eirtricity and vice-president of the European Wind Energy Association. Offshore wind energy could provide up to two-thirds of Europe's electricity needs by 2020, he said.
Speaking at the signing of the foreshore lease, Dr O'Connor said: "The resource is there, the technology is proven, the costs continue to drop - all that is needed is the political will to see it happen." The Minister said he was delighted that the application, which had been subject to "full public consultation", had received no objections.
However, Birdwatch Ireland said yesterday it was concerned about the unknown impact on an area with internationally important species of birds.
Copies of the foreshore lease were not available yesterday. Mr Frank Doyle, secretary-general of the Irish Fishermen's Organisation, said his body had met the backers of the project and had expressed reservations.
"This is new territory and so it is very difficult to measure the impact but we do know that fisheries will be affected," he said. "These projects come with a high political priority value, which makes for difficulties when questions are raised," he added. In Britain, fishing industry organisations have expressed concern about several projects in relation to the impact on fisheries and safe navigation.
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, welcomes the granting of the lease as the "dawn of a new Ireland", and said the Republic needed this development to reduce dependence on finite imported fossil fuels and reduce the burden of greenhouse gas emissions. However, Mr Sargent criticised Minister for Finance Mr McCreevy for refusing to grant a reduced VAT rate for renewable energy.
Employers' organisation IBEC welcomed the commitment shown by private investors in the energy sector in a regulatory climate, which, it said, remained to a large degree uncertain. Wind energy and other clean technologies would contribute to meeting the State's commitment under the Kyoto protocol, it added.
