The ESB and Rosslare’s port authority, Iarnród Éireann, have signed a joint agreement to co-operate on offshore wind development in the Celtic and Irish Seas.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) draws on ESB’s plans to develop a “portfolio” of offshore wind farms, while Rosslare Europort aims to establish the port as Ireland’s offshore renewables hub.

The MOU “establishes a common goal of maximising the opportunities of each parties’ respective development plans”, they state.

The MOU is “non-exclusive”, and sets out the two organisations’ intention to “work together with the aim of developing a port solution capable of supporting ESB’s offshore developments in Ireland, in line with the country’s climate action targets and ESB’s Net Zero by 2040 strategy”, they say.

Last year, Rosslare Europort management announced plans to establish the port, its hinterland and the southeast region as an Irish offshore renewable energy (ORE) Hub, with the potential to create up to 2,000 jobs.

The partners state that the port is uniquely located within 60-100 nautical miles of most of the planned developments in the Irish and Celtic seas, including many of the projects developed by ESB within Ireland.

Rosslare Europort plans significant works, including:

• ORE purpose-built quay and berth
• ORE quayside storage and pre-construction / up to 50 acres in area
• Navigable channel dredged down to a minimum of 9-11 metres depth
• Management Control Centre & management offices and facilities for Operations and Maintenance

Minister of State at the Department of Transport Jack Chambers said: “Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) is integral to meeting Ireland’s climate change ambitions with a target of achieving 7GW of offshore energy by 2030, 2GW of which is dedicated to the production of green hydrogen”.

"As set out in a policy statement published in December 2021, a multiport approach to the provision of port infrastructure will facilitate the development of ORE in Ireland, which will help maximise the economic benefits at regional as well as national level in terms of the creation of jobs and new SME enterprise that can support the development of the ORE industry,” he said.

"This agreement between Rosslare Europort and ESB is a welcome demonstration of the collaboration and commitment by these two commercial entities in delivering on our ORE ambition,” he said.

The ESB and the Port of Cork Company have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding joint plans for Ireland’s offshore wind and green hydrogen development, as the Irish Examiner reports.

A key factor of Port of Cork’s masterplan is aiming to position the city and its natural, deep-channel harbour at the forefront of Ireland’s growing offshore renewable energy sector.

And with the ESB’s Net Zero by 2040 seeing collaboration as critical to the development of green energy in Ireland, the partnership comes at an opportune time.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

ESB will host a webinar on its proposed Celtic Offshore Wind Project from 7.30pm to 8.30pm this Thursday 8 December.

And this will be followed by a series of public exhibitions on the plans in Youghal, Ballycotton and Cobh next week.

The Celtic Offshore Wind Project comprises two wind farms south of Ballycotton in East Cork.

Celtic One is a proposed 800MW fixed-bottom offshore wind farm some 8km offshore, while Celtic Two is a proposed 800MW floating offshore wind farm to be located some 27km south of Ballycotton.

The webinar will provide up-to-date information from the project team, as well as offer an opportunity for the public to submit questions or provide feedback. All questions and answers will be added to the project website after the event.

If you wish to attend or submit questions in advance, email [email protected] with your details.

Following the webinar, ESB is hosting a series of public exhibitions to give local communities the opportunity to learn more about the project.

These sessions will offer attendees the opportunity to review up-to-date information on the project as well as to meet with the project team. They take place at the following dates, times and locations:

• Tuesday 13 December, 4-8pm, Cumann na Daoine, Catherine Street, Youghal
• Wednesday 14 December, 4-8pm, Sea Church, Ballycotton
• Thursday 15 December, 4-8pm, Commodore Hotel, 4 Westbourn Place, Cobh

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of this generation. Its impact is evident in increasingly extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, water shortages and disruption to biodiversity and ecosystems.

Offshore wind-generated electricity has a transformative role to play globally in mankind’s fight against this change and our transition to a zero-carbon economy by eliminating carbon and other harmful greenhouse gases emitted by the energy sector by replacing that generation with clean renewable electricity as opposed to through the burning of fossil fuels.

ESB – leading the development of offshore wind in Ireland

On 14th February, we launched our ambitious new strategy – Driven to make a Difference: Net Zero by 2040 – with the aim of putting in place the infrastructure and services to enable our customers and broader society to live more sustainably. This builds on our 2017 Brighter Future strategy, which set a clear direction for ESB to take action and exercise leadership in tackling climate change.

Dipping our toe

One of the objectives of our Brighter Future strategy was to “Produce, connect and deliver clean, secure and affordable energy”, with the intent of incorporating significantly more renewable generation into our portfolio. Our first step into the world of offshore wind development came in March 2018 when we acquired a 12.5% share of the 353MW Galloper Offshore Wind Farm^[1], located off the coast of Suffolk.

We are now involved as partner in three other offshore wind development projects in UK waters, as well as seven others around the coast of Ireland, two in partnership with Parkwind^[2] – Clogherhead^[3] and Oriel^[4] – and five others that are sole ESB projects

^[1] http://www.galloperwindfarm.com/

^[2] https://parkwind.eu/

^[3] https://www.clogherheadwind.ie/

^[4] https://www.orielwindfarm.ie/

The ESB projects are illustrated on the map above and consist of the following:

Further information on each site is available on ESB’s Renewable Energy homepage - ESB and Renewable Energy

Project status

Investigative Foreshore Licence Applications for the ESB projects were submitted in late 2020 and early 2021 to facilitate the commencement of site investigation works in the form of geophysical, geotechnical, metocean and other environmental surveys. To date, two of these have been advertised for public consultation. The Sea Stacks consultation closed at the end of January 2022 and the Helvick Head consultation closed at the end of March. It is anticipated that the consultations for the other three projects will take place over the coming months – please keep an eye on the project webpages for updates.

We have recently launched a Virtual Consultation Room for our Moneypoint project, which can be accessed at the following webpage: https://www.moneypointoffshorewind.ie/Public-Consultation.html The room will provide viewers with up-to-date information on the project and offers an opportunity for viewers to ask questions or provide feedback, and will be open until mid-November 2022. We will host a webinar on the project in due course to give interested parties an opportunity to hear from the project team directly and also to offer an opportunity for questions to be asked by the public. If you would like to take part in the webinar, please leave your details in the feedback form in the consultation room. Otherwise, you can let us know by emailing [email protected]

Open and engaged approach to development

ESB appreciates that our proposed offshore wind sites have the potential to impact some maritime and fishing activities both during the development, planning and construction stages as well as during the operational and subsequent decommissioning phases of our projects. We are currently trying to identify what those impacts might be so that we can take all steps possible to minimise and mitigate against them, both within the wind turbine array area and also along the electricity export cable corridor(s).

During site investigation surveys, wind farm construction works and cable laying it is envisaged that some restrictions will be required to facilitate safe operation of the associated vessels and construction/installation teams. ESB will agree an approach for these activities with the relevant fishers and other marine users associated with any of our proposed projects in advance of any such works. ESB will never carry out works that may impact the maritime community without first engaging appropriately.

During the operation of any of our wind farms, persistence of largely normal, unhindered maritime activity is the aim for ESB. We appreciate, though, that this will be dependent on a number of factors, e.g. turbine array spacing, location of grid cables, whether or not the turbines are bottom-fixed or floating, etc. Gaining a proper understanding from marine users of how our project sites have been and are being used – both in terms of location and type of activity – is, therefore, a key input into the site design process. In that regard, we would very strongly encourage all interested parties to make contact with ESB so that we can both try to attain a better understanding of how we can pursue our interests mutually.

Contact details

ESB’s Stakeholder Manager on the five projects is Brian Hegarty. Brian can be contacted by emailing [email protected] or by calling +447980567980.

ESB’s Community Liaison Officer on the five projects is Michael McGlynn. Michael can be contacted by emailing [email protected] or by calling +353861363512.

Alternatively, if you have any queries relating to any specific site or project, you can contact the project team directly from the Contact Us section of the relevant project webpage.

RTÉ News reports that the ESB has put before planners its proposal for an offshore wind turbine production base at its Moneypoint plant.

The pre-consultation on the planned facility, envisaged as part of the ESB’s multi-billion-euro Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint programme, will continue till June but formal plans are not expected to go before An Board Pleanála until 2024.

“Moneypoint will become a centre for the construction and deployment of floating wind,” a spokesperson said of the proposed facility, part of the ESB’s plans to evolve the West Clare station from coal power into a green energy hub.

The State-owned power company outlined benefits of the site such as its existing deepwater access, and its potential to “a significant number of direct jobs in the Mid-West region”.

Elsewhere, a Dutch offshore energy firm is proposing a £1 billion investment off Northern Ireland that could generate power for up to half a million homes.

As the Belfast Telegraph reports, SBM Offshore says it is investigation two sites in the North Channel for a series of “new generation floating wind turbines”.

“The two sites would generate a combined 400MW, representing 13% of Northern Ireland’s energy needs and up to 57% of domestic requirement,” project director Niamh Kenny said.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

Rowing clubs along the Shannon have been badly affected by high water levels. Carrick on Shannon and Athlone have both been hit, while Castleconnell is flooded. This came despite pumping. The gym equipment had been moved out and the boats are stored higher up the bank.

This ESB at Ardnacrusha stated: “Due to heavy rainfall in the catchment we will be increasing discharge from Parteen Weir. You are being notified that water is about to be discharged above 325 m3/sec. This will result in flooding of roads, land and may affect property. You are advised to be aware of increased flows in the river as a result of this water discharge. Further increases in discharge may be required. Approx. 400 m3/sec will be discharged.”

#Rowing: ESB has teamed up with Rowing Ireland to support a series of prestigious rowing regattas on Inniscarra Reservoir this month. The Coupe de la Jeunesse, from July 27^th to 29th, will attract talented young rowers from 13 countries across Europe. Up to 750 rowers and their support teams are expected in the Cork area for this high-profile event. The event is open to rowers who are 18 years or under. The Festival of Rowing programme also includes the Irish Rowing Championships taking place this weekend, July 13^th to 15^th, as well as the Home International Regatta which takes place on July 21st.

Rowing Ireland CEO Michelle Carpenter said: “We are delighted with the ESB support of our exciting Festival of Rowing which commences this weekend with the biggest ever Irish Rowing Championships. The relationship between the ESB and Rowing Ireland has been pivotal and we are delighted to have them support our celebration of Irish and International here at our High Performance home in Inniscarra.”

 Frank Barry, Plant Manager at ESB’s Lee Stations said: “In what is a milestone month for the rowing community, ESB is delighted to support Rowing Ireland in their hosting of these three upcoming regattas on Inniscarra Reservoir. This support builds on our long-standing relationship with the rowing community. In 2011, ESB entered a 25 year lease with Rowing Ireland which has facilitated development of world-class infrastructure at the National Rowing Centre. As such, the facilities at Farran provide a fitting backdrop as we welcome the international athletes for the 2018 Coupe de la Jeunesse in particular. On behalf of ESB, I wish all participants the very best of luck in these prestigious events.”

 Cork County Council and Fáilte Ireland are also providing support for the events.

Waterways Ireland continues to advise caution while extensive flooding continues across all navigations. Advice has also been issued by ESB networks in relation to available clearance under overhead or sunken electricity cables.

ESB Networks is warning members of the public and emergency services to be vigilant when moving around flooded areas in boats and other flotation vehicles.

The electricity network is designed to have ample clearance for access and egress during normal conditions. However, when areas are flooded, this clearance level may be affected.

The electricity network is live and should not be approached. Electricity wires are dangerous even at close proximity and where clearance is compromised, you should not pass under them.

If you see any sagging electricity wires or wires submerged in water, please do not steer your boat over these. Do not use oars or anything else to lift or move electricity wires. Please report any poor clearance issues immediately to ESB Network at 1850 372 999.

ESB Networks is currently assessing the electricity network in flooded areas to assess damage and identify safety issues.

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has been advised that ESB International have deployed two C-POD hydrophone units, for the purpose of gathering sound data, off the West coast of Ireland, at Killard, Co. Clare.

The C-POD hydrophone units are deployed at the following co-ordinates:

Location Latitude (WGS84) Longitude (WGS84)

52° 45.051' N 009° 32.455' W

52° 44.652' N 009° 43.074' W

For more details download the full marine notice below.

#INLAND WATERWAYS - Sluice gates have been opened at locks and dams along the River Shannon due to flooding concerns, The Irish Times reports.

The ESB confirmed that water levels in the upper Shannon had been rising significantly since September, and were just below those recorded prior to the flooding in Carrick-on-Shannon two years ago.

However the flooding threat has abated this week, with levels in Lough Allen dropping by around 300cm, although the situation is still subject to amounts of rainfall in the coming days as the Shannon drains slowly.

Levels in Lough Ree have also stabilised after rising throughout October.

The ESB continues to discharge from the Ardnacrusha power plant, while Waterways Ireland has commenced dredging at Meelick in Co Galway.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.