Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation to Become a Partner in Floating Windfarm Project off Donegal

15th July 2022

Floating offshore wind - One of the key advantages of floating offshore wind is that turbines are located further away from shores in areas with higher average wind speeds without depth constraints

A file photo of a floating offshore wind turbine - One of the key advantages of floating offshore wind is that turbines are located further away from shores in areas with higher average wind speeds without depth constraints Credit: Wind Europe

If you can’t beat em, join em, and that’s one view of a surprise move by the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) to become a partner in a two-gigawatt floating wind farm project off the coast of Donegal.

The KFO has signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish renewable energy developer Hexicon and Sinbad Marine Services to explore development of a two-gigawatt offshore wind farm located 50k to 80 km off the Donegal coast.

KFO chief executive Sean O’Donoghue

KFO chief executive Sean O’Donoghue says the key element is that it has to be offshore, as the fishing industry has “huge problems with fixed wind”.

Industry organisations are also being presented with “lines on maps”, which is one of the reasons the KFO has taken what he describes as a “new approach”.

The plan also aims to develop Killybegs as a renewable energy hub and generate hydrogen to fuel the fishing fleet, as he believes marine fuels will be phased out in the next ten to twelve years.

KFO chief executive Sean O’Donoghue explained the background to Wavelengths.

Afloat.ie · Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation Offshore Windfarm Project

Published in Wavelength Podcast, Fishing, Power From the Sea

Published in Wavelength Podcast

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floating offshore wind

About The Author

Lorna Siggins

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Lorna Siggins is a print and radio reporter, and a former Irish Times western correspondent. She is the author of Search and Rescue: True stories of Irish Air-Sea Rescues and the Loss of R116 (2022); Everest Callling (1994) on the first Irish Everest expedition; Mayday! Mayday! (2004); and Once Upon a Time in the West: the Corrib gas controversy (2010). She is also co-producer with Sarah Blake of the Doc on One "Miracle in Galway Bay" which recently won a Celtic Media Award

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