*A €70m community fund was also planned as part of the project.
PLANS for a 450MW wind farm off the coasts of Clare and Galway have been pulled.
Corio Generation and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will not proceed with its Sceirde Rocks project on the west coast of Ireland. They have decided to halt the development, less than a month after submitting a planning application to An Bord Pleanála.
More detailed site investigations uncovered that the €1.4bn offshore wind farm was going to be more challenging than expected with tough rocky seabed conditions plus severe wave and currents of the west coast the challenging factors believed to have influenced the decision.
Sceirde Rocks was one of six offshore wind farms in the Irish planning system and a project Ireland was relying on to meet its climate targets for 2030. The project was capable of powering 350,000 Irish homes, saving an estimated 550,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and contributing up to €70m in local community initiatives.
Planning and environmental consultants, MKO in planning documents lodged with An Bord Pleanála stated that €1.4bn was going to be the “significant initial investment” of the project “in a rural coastal area, in the offshore renewable energy industry, which is essential for diversifying the energy sector, contributing to the revitalisation of the rural economy and delivering on climate and energy targets”.
According to the planning documents, it was estimated that €2.4bn would be spent development, construction, operation and decommissioning of the project. Companies and organisations in Galway were tipped to be awarded contracts worth approximately €430m, the Atlantic Region €587m, and nationally €708m.
610 jobs were earmarked to be created during the construction phase of the Sceirde Rocks project generating €53m Gross Value Added (GVA) in Ireland.
In January, plans were unveiled for the landmark 450MW wind farm with 30 turbines over 1,000 feet high in the Atlantic Ocean. It was to be located five kilometres to eleven and a half kilometres off the west coast. It was going to be the first offshore wind farm off Ireland’s west coast to go through to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission.
Kilrush based Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) said the decision was “very concerning for the future of off shore wind energy on the west coast, another developer has pulled out. It really feels like the government really don’t understand the complexity of the industry and its solely based on aspirations over facts and reality”.
At a special meeting of Clare County Council at the end of March, elected members urged
An Bord Pleanála to defer any approval of the project until meaningful consultation with local communities has taken place. Communities in Clare and Galway have now missed out on a pot of €70m from a community fund which now disappears with the project.
Gravity base foundations similar to those in place at the Fecamp project off France were to be explored by developers. According to The Currency who broke the story, Corio is in talks with Energy Department DECC over next steps. The company this week began a major restructuring effort after parent Macquarie failed to find a buyer. “Given challenging market conditions in the offshore wind sector, Corio Generation is refocusing its global operations to prioritise the development of a smaller portfolio of projects which have the clearest route through to construction,” it said.
The applicant company is a joint venture between the Australian based Macquarie Group and global infrastructure investor, the Ontario Teachers Pension Board. Sceirde Rocks which is west of Connemara was referred to as ‘the gates of hell’ by sailors in times gone by.
