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Displaying items by tag: flooding

#Flood - Just days after Limerick experienced its worst flooding in recent memory, Cork city last night was deluged by a high tide that saw waters reportedly rise to waist height on lower lying streets.

As RTÉ News reports, Cork Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy has called for the speeding-up of plans for new flood defences following what she described as a "red-alert" situation for the city, the centre of which lies on an island surrounded by the River Lee.

Businesses and residents in the city centre were this morning in recovery mode after two nights of flooding that have caused thousands of euro worth of damage, according to The Irish Times, though council-issued gel bags helped avoid an even worse disaster.

Published in Weather
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Clare County Council is to commence emergency flood defence works along the County Clare coastline near Quilty over fears that up to 15 homes could experience flooding.

Recent storms caused significant coastal erosion at Cloughaninchy leaving private residential properties exposed to flooding by sea water.

The local authority is investing 50,000 euro, which it says it will seek to recoup from any future funding allocation from Government, to install approximately one thousand 1-tonne bags of rock and sand as an interim flood defence barrier.

Cloughaninchy is already the subject of a funding application submitted to Government by Clare County Council. The local authority is seeking €2,581,250 to undertake permanent coastal protection works over a 800 metre stretch of coastline as well as repairs to a road, sewage pumping station and bridge, all damaged by recent flooding.

Mayor of Clare Cllr. Joe Arkins commented: "In recent days Clare County Council has met with residents at Cloughaninchy to discuss ways of addressing the very real threat of flooding posed to a number of residential properties. I want to praise the Chairman of the residents group, Michael Neenan for his pragmatic approach and to acknowledge the support of my fellow elected members in ensuring these works will now proceed."

Clare County Manager, Tom Coughlan says he has informed the Department of the Environment of the local authority's plans to proceed with emergency flood defence works.

In a letter to Sean Hogan, who is National Director for Fire and Emergency Management at the Department of the Environment, Mr. Coughlan stated: "The Council has undertaken a survey of the levels of coastline and it appears that the level of the high tides which are due in early February may exceed the height of the shoreline which has been reduced as a consequence of the storms. Such an occurrence, without the benefit of interim defence works, would probably result in flooding of private residential properties which have already suffered flooding earlier this month."

He continued: "The only apparent possible defence to this undesirable flooding event is the construction of coastal protection over a length of approximately 800 metres. It is not possible, for a number of reasons, to construct a permanent protection of rock armour at this time. However, in order to attempt to provide an interim defence, Clare County Council is proceeding with the construction of a temporary barrier of bags of material and other works along the shoreline. This temporary barrier will be constructed on the private properties along the shore and an agreement has been entered into between the landowners and the Council to facilitate the necessary works."

"Clare County Council has not made financial provision for this emergency work which may cost in excess of €50,000 – however, we have no option but to make every effort to safeguard the properties at Cloughaninchy," concluded Mr. Coughlan

Published in Coastal Notes

#Flooding - Flooding events in Galway of the likes experienced in the recent winter storms will occur more regularly "with or without" the expansion of the city's port, according to Galway's harbourmaster.

As The Irish Times reports, Capt Brian Sheridan said "worst case scenario" modelling has been carried out on the masterplan for the port's expansion, which was lodged with An Bórd Pleanála yesterday (10 January).

Proposals for the scheme, which would see 27 hectares of land reclaimed from Galway Bay, include a "mini Sydney Opera House".

But for now, many residents in Galway and other western coastal areas blighted by the recent extreme weather are concentrating on picking up the pieces.

On Achill Island, guesthouse and gallery owner John Bartlett said the tight-knit community was "pretty well whacked" by the tidal flooding and sea surges that wreaked havoc along the Mayo coast.

And further south in Kerry, fisherman Patrick O'Sullivan tells The Irish Times of the shocking night last week when the Atlantic literally crashed into his young family's home.

Published in Galway Harbour
Tagged under

#Flooding - Seaside residents in the popular surfing spot of Lahinch in Co Clare were evacuated yesterday (3 January) after massive swells driven by strong storm-force winds encroached half a kilometre inland.

According to The Irish Times, the emergency came amid some of the worst weather ever experienced in the West Clare coastal town.

Aside from flooding homes throughout the town, the storm surges collapsed metal fencing on the shorefront and sent concrete wall cappings some 50 metres across the promenade car park.

Nearby, part of the old pier in Liscannor were destroyed by the violent wind and wave action, while the 150-year-old base of the Irish Coast Guard's Doolin unit was also damaged, with the road leading from the base to the pier broken up.

Elsewhere in the country, records were broken in Dublin as the River Liffey saw its highest ever tide, breaking its banks near Heuston Station yesterday afternoon.

The Irish Independent reports that Wolfe Tone Quay and Victoria Quay were closed for an hour while Dublin City Council workers pumped the floodwaters from the roads.

In the coastal suburb of Clontarf - the worst-hit area of the capital, experiencing its worst flooding in a decade - seafront businesses were spared when floodwaters stopped just metres from their doors.

Meanwhile, Galway and Cork remain on high alert as high tide brings floodwaters to city streets, with the Salthill Promenade still a no-go area.

Published in Coastal Notes
Tagged under

#MARINE NOTICE - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) draws mariners' attention to the official report on the sinking of the fishing boat Ainmire and its recommendations for safety on board all fishing vessels.

As reported in September last year on Afloat.ie, the report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board found that a breach in the engine compartment caused the Ainmire to take on water and sink off the coast of Scotland in April 2011.

The report concluded that the failure of a sea water cooling pipe in the engine room was the most likely cause of the flooding, and noted that the pipework had not been renewed during the life of the vessel.

Investigators also noted that the bilge pump was located under the floor plates in the engine room as was this inoperable when the water level rose in the compartment.

Marine Notice No 58 of 2012 - a PDF of which is available to read and download HERE - reminds fishing vessel operators that large sea-water inlets in engine rooms make their boats vulnerable to severe flooding if they fail.

It is recommended that these pipes should be checked for corrosion every year, especially around the welded joint at the hull. Ultrasonic thickness testing of the pipework should also be considered.

Moreover, such pipework can be eroded quickly by stray currents, so electrical equipment should be checked regularly, while the location of bilge pumps in the engine room should be carefully considered

Published in Fishing

#SHANNON FLOODING - Galway Bay FM reports that Galway county councillors have postponed making any decision on an Oireachtas report into flooding in areas adjacent to the River Shannon.

The move was taken on the suggestion of Cllr Dermot Connolly in the wake of a joint Dáil and Seanad committee report that highlights eight proposals for dealing with flooding issues along the longest of Ireland's inland waterways.

Cllr Michael Connolly has suggested that Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and Minister for the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan should meet to discuss the report's findings from both a flooding and environmental stance.

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent reports that the Office of Public Works (OPW) has agreed to carry out tests at Meelick weir on the Shannon in Co Offaly after thousands of acres of farmland were flooded over the summer, ruining silage crops and summer grazing land.

Waterways Ireland has denied allegations that a failure to open sluices and lift boards at the weird contributed to the flooding.

Published in Shannon Estuary

#COASTAL NOTES - It's an alarming figure by any means - new research shows that the level of the Irish Sea will rise by almost half a metre by the end of the century, leading to much more severe flooding along the east coast and elsewhere.

The results of research published by the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, as reported by The Irish Times, show that sea level rises of up to 47cm are not out of the question.

They also indicate that sea surface temperatures will increase by nearly 2 degrees, which would have serious implications for marine wildlife and the fishing industry.

Dr Mike Hartnett of the Tyan Institute said the new research - from 3D model-based projections of the seas around Ireland - is the most comprehensive study of its kind, and confirms previous "tentative" studies in the area.

The news comes after national weather forecaster Met Éireann announced an incredible 0.75 degree rise in average temperature in Ireland - and a 5% increase in rainfall - over the past two decades alone.

And with recent flooding in Cork and Belfast causing millions of euro worth of damage, the real implications of such figures is coming closer to home.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastal Notes

#FLOODING - The clean-up has begun across Cork city and county after heavy flooding over the past two days resulted in millions of euro worth of damage, as The Irish Times reports.

Debris blocking a rubbish screen on a new culvert on the Douglas river has been blamed for the more than four feet of flood water that swamped the suburb of Douglas south of Cork city.

Elsewhere in the city, six people were evacuated from homes in the Meadow Brook Estate in Glanmire after the Glashaboy river burst its banks.

RTÉ News - which has a photo gallery of affected areas in and around Cork - reports that electricity is being restored to most customers after widespread power outages.

Met Éireann's Eoin Sherlock said that nearly 50mm of rain fell in a single six-hour period on Wednesday night - more than two-thirds of the monthly average rainfall for June.

Meanwhile, in Belfast politicians face public anger over flash flooding overwhelmed the city and left major routes impassable and sparked concerns over rising sewage water.

According to the Irish Independent, Northern Ireland emergency services reported more than 700 call-outs linked to the flooding in greater Belfast alone.

Minister for Regional Development Danny Kennedy, who is responsible for the North's roads and water system, said that "no infrastructure would have been able to cope with the level of rainfall that we have seen.

"It simply isn't designed to cope with those volumes of rain."

Published in News Update

#WEATHER - Met Éireann is warning that more gale force winds will affect many parts of Ireland and the Irish Sea today (28 December).

According to the forecaster, stormy conditions over Connacht, Ulster and parts of north Leinster will see gale force westerly winds with gusts of between 100 and 130 km/h.

The worst winds are expected in exposed coastal and hilly areas of Ulster and Connacht. There is also an increased risk of flooding as a result of high astronomical tides combined with very high seas.

Published in Weather
#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.

#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.

Published in Inland Waterways
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Ireland's Offshore Renewable Energy

Because of Ireland's location at the Atlantic edge of the EU, it has more offshore energy potential than most other countries in Europe. The conditions are suitable for the development of the full range of current offshore renewable energy technologies.

Offshore Renewable Energy FAQs

Offshore renewable energy draws on the natural energy provided by wind, wave and tide to convert it into electricity for industry and domestic consumption.

Offshore wind is the most advanced technology, using fixed wind turbines in coastal areas, while floating wind is a developing technology more suited to deeper water. In 2018, offshore wind provided a tiny fraction of global electricity supply, but it is set to expand strongly in the coming decades into a USD 1 trillion business, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It says that turbines are growing in size and in power capacity, which in turn is "delivering major performance and cost improvements for offshore wind farms".

The global offshore wind market grew nearly 30% per year between 2010 and 2018, according to the IEA, due to rapid technology improvements, It calculated that about 150 new offshore wind projects are in active development around the world. Europe in particular has fostered the technology's development, led by Britain, Germany and Denmark, but China added more capacity than any other country in 2018.

A report for the Irish Wind Energy Assocation (IWEA) by the Carbon Trust – a British government-backed limited company established to accelerate Britain's move to a low carbon economy - says there are currently 14 fixed-bottom wind energy projects, four floating wind projects and one project that has yet to choose a technology at some stage of development in Irish waters. Some of these projects are aiming to build before 2030 to contribute to the 5GW target set by the Irish government, and others are expected to build after 2030. These projects have to secure planning permission, obtain a grid connection and also be successful in a competitive auction in the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).

The electricity generated by each turbine is collected by an offshore electricity substation located within the wind farm. Seabed cables connect the offshore substation to an onshore substation on the coast. These cables transport the electricity to land from where it will be used to power homes, farms and businesses around Ireland. The offshore developer works with EirGrid, which operates the national grid, to identify how best to do this and where exactly on the grid the project should connect.

The new Marine Planning and Development Management Bill will create a new streamlined system for planning permission for activity or infrastructure in Irish waters or on the seabed, including offshore wind farms. It is due to be published before the end of 2020 and enacted in 2021.

There are a number of companies aiming to develop offshore wind energy off the Irish coast and some of the larger ones would be ESB, SSE Renewables, Energia, Statkraft and RWE.

There are a number of companies aiming to develop offshore wind energy off the Irish coast and some of the larger ones would be ESB, SSE Renewables, Energia, Statkraft and RWE. Is there scope for community involvement in offshore wind? The IWEA says that from the early stages of a project, the wind farm developer "should be engaging with the local community to inform them about the project, answer their questions and listen to their concerns". It says this provides the community with "the opportunity to work with the developer to help shape the final layout and design of the project". Listening to fishing industry concerns, and how fishermen may be affected by survey works, construction and eventual operation of a project is "of particular concern to developers", the IWEA says. It says there will also be a community benefit fund put in place for each project. It says the final details of this will be addressed in the design of the RESS (see below) for offshore wind but it has the potential to be "tens of millions of euro over the 15 years of the RESS contract". The Government is also considering the possibility that communities will be enabled to invest in offshore wind farms though there is "no clarity yet on how this would work", the IWEA says.

Based on current plans, it would amount to around 12 GW of offshore wind energy. However, the IWEA points out that is unlikely that all of the projects planned will be completed. The industry says there is even more significant potential for floating offshore wind off Ireland's west coast and the Programme for Government contains a commitment to develop a long-term plan for at least 30 GW of floating offshore wind in our deeper waters.

There are many different models of turbines. The larger a turbine, the more efficient it is in producing electricity at a good price. In choosing a turbine model the developer will be conscious of this ,but also has to be aware the impact of the turbine on the environment, marine life, biodiversity and visual impact. As a broad rule an offshore wind turbine will have a tip-height of between 165m and 215m tall. However, turbine technology is evolving at a rapid rate with larger more efficient turbines anticipated on the market in the coming years.

 

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme is designed to support the development of renewable energy projects in Ireland. Under the scheme wind farms and solar farms compete against each other in an auction with the projects which offer power at the lowest price awarded contracts. These contracts provide them with a guaranteed price for their power for 15 years. If they obtain a better price for their electricity on the wholesale market they must return the difference to the consumer.

Yes. The first auction for offshore renewable energy projects is expected to take place in late 2021.

Cost is one difference, and technology is another. Floating wind farm technology is relatively new, but allows use of deeper water. Ireland's 50-metre contour line is the limit for traditional bottom-fixed wind farms, and it is also very close to population centres, which makes visibility of large turbines an issue - hence the attraction of floating structures Do offshore wind farms pose a navigational hazard to shipping? Inshore fishermen do have valid concerns. One of the first steps in identifying a site as a potential location for an offshore wind farm is to identify and assess the level of existing marine activity in the area and this particularly includes shipping. The National Marine Planning Framework aims to create, for the first time, a plan to balance the various kinds of offshore activity with the protection of the Irish marine environment. This is expected to be published before the end of 2020, and will set out clearly where is suitable for offshore renewable energy development and where it is not - due, for example, to shipping movements and safe navigation.

YEnvironmental organisations are concerned about the impact of turbines on bird populations, particularly migrating birds. A Danish scientific study published in 2019 found evidence that larger birds were tending to avoid turbine blades, but said it didn't have sufficient evidence for smaller birds – and cautioned that the cumulative effect of farms could still have an impact on bird movements. A full environmental impact assessment has to be carried out before a developer can apply for planning permission to develop an offshore wind farm. This would include desk-based studies as well as extensive surveys of the population and movements of birds and marine mammals, as well as fish and seabed habitats. If a potential environmental impact is identified the developer must, as part of the planning application, show how the project will be designed in such a way as to avoid the impact or to mitigate against it.

A typical 500 MW offshore wind farm would require an operations and maintenance base which would be on the nearby coast. Such a project would generally create between 80-100 fulltime jobs, according to the IWEA. There would also be a substantial increase to in-direct employment and associated socio-economic benefit to the surrounding area where the operation and maintenance hub is located.

The recent Carbon Trust report for the IWEA, entitled Harnessing our potential, identified significant skills shortages for offshore wind in Ireland across the areas of engineering financial services and logistics. The IWEA says that as Ireland is a relatively new entrant to the offshore wind market, there are "opportunities to develop and implement strategies to address the skills shortages for delivering offshore wind and for Ireland to be a net exporter of human capital and skills to the highly competitive global offshore wind supply chain". Offshore wind requires a diverse workforce with jobs in both transferable (for example from the oil and gas sector) and specialist disciplines across apprenticeships and higher education. IWEA have a training network called the Green Tech Skillnet that facilitates training and networking opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

It is expected that developing the 3.5 GW of offshore wind energy identified in the Government's Climate Action Plan would create around 2,500 jobs in construction and development and around 700 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. The Programme for Government published in 2020 has an enhanced target of 5 GW of offshore wind which would create even more employment. The industry says that in the initial stages, the development of offshore wind energy would create employment in conducting environmental surveys, community engagement and development applications for planning. As a site moves to construction, people with backgrounds in various types of engineering, marine construction and marine transport would be recruited. Once the site is up and running , a project requires a team of turbine technicians, engineers and administrators to ensure the wind farm is fully and properly maintained, as well as crew for the crew transfer vessels transporting workers from shore to the turbines.

The IEA says that today's offshore wind market "doesn't even come close to tapping the full potential – with high-quality resources available in most major markets". It estimates that offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 420 000 Terawatt hours per year (TWh/yr) worldwide – as in more than 18 times the current global electricity demand. One Terawatt is 114 megawatts, and to put it in context, Scotland it has a population a little over 5 million and requires 25 TWh/yr of electrical energy.

Not as advanced as wind, with anchoring a big challenge – given that the most effective wave energy has to be in the most energetic locations, such as the Irish west coast. Britain, Ireland and Portugal are regarded as most advanced in developing wave energy technology. The prize is significant, the industry says, as there are forecasts that varying between 4000TWh/yr to 29500TWh/yr. Europe consumes around 3000TWh/year.

The industry has two main umbrella organisations – the Irish Wind Energy Association, which represents both onshore and offshore wind, and the Marine Renewables Industry Association, which focuses on all types of renewable in the marine environment.

©Afloat 2020