Members of the national parliament of Ireland, the Oireachtas, recently visited the WindFloat Atlantic, a floating offshore wind farm in Portugal operated by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE. The delegation included Alan Farrell TD and Senator John McGahon, both members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action. The purpose of the visit was to gain first-hand experience of the floating offshore wind facility and its associated infrastructure and to learn about the optimal approach to offshore wind farm development. The visit also aimed to highlight the importance of meaningful stakeholder engagement, a priority that Ocean Winds follows throughout each project's earliest stages.

The WindFloat Atlantic project, operated by Ocean Winds, has been operational since 2020 and is the first floating offshore wind farm of its kind. It offers economic and infrastructural benefits of offshore wind farms and accommodates floating offshore wind technology, which allows turbines to be located further from shore in waters deeper than 60m. The visit comes at a critical time when the need to leverage Ireland's offshore wind power potential is greater than ever before, amid the increasing impact of climate change, as well as Ireland's climate target ambitions.

Windfloat Atlantic, a floating offshore wind farm in Portugal operated by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE

Dan Finch, Country Manager for Ocean Winds in Ireland, said: "The WindFloat Atlantic project (25 MW) proves that the technology is viable and gives us best practices and key learnings for floating offshore wind at commercial scale." Brian Leddin TD, Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, commented that "Ireland possesses significant potential and enormous climatic and geographic advantages when it comes to generating offshore wind energy, particularly floating offshore. The Committee members were delighted to visit WindFloat Atlantic to see a floating offshore wind farm of this nature in full operation and learn more about the infrastructure and supports underpinning such a development."

Ocean Winds entered the Irish wind energy market in 2020, bringing with it over a decade of experience inherited from its sponsors in the development of wind energy facilities across North America, the UK, Europe, and Korea. The company is currently working on the development of two offshore projects by 2030, off the coast of counties Dublin and Wicklow - Réalt na Mara and Celtic Horizon off the coast of counties Wexford and Waterford. The combined projects promise to deliver over 2.3 GW of renewable energy to over 2.1 million Irish households.

The visit to the WindFloat Atlantic floating offshore wind farm has given the Oireachtas members valuable insights into offshore wind farm development and will help Ireland to achieve its ambitious 2030 climate and energy targets outlined in the Climate Action Plan 2023.

Ocean Winds and Bord na Móna has launched a major new offshore wind partnership at an event with Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in Dublin.

The partnership brings together leading international offshore wind energy expert Ocean Winds (OW) with Bord na Móna, one of Ireland’s oldest semi-states working at the forefront of energy technology, to combine their efforts in leveraging Ireland’s offshore wind power resources.

The long-term, exclusive partnership will see Ocean Winds and Bord na Móna co-own, identify and develop offshore wind energy opportunities around the coast of Ireland.

The joint venture initially incorporates two potential projects, Réalt na Mara, off the coast of Dublin and Wicklow, and Celtic Horizon, off the coast of Wexford and Waterford. Engagement on both projects with local communities, stakeholders and the fishing industry is currently underway. The projects have the potential to generate up to 2.3 GW Gigawatts (GW) of clean and renewable electricity to power up to 2.1 million homes by 2030. By reducing Ireland’s reliance on gas and oil it will also help safeguard Irish communities from global energy price fluctuations.

Grzegorz Gorski, COO of Ocean Winds with Bord na Móna Chief Executive Tom Donnellan and Bautista Rodríguez, Chief Executive Officer Ocean Winds. Photo: Jason Clarke

The collaboration marks a significant step forward for Bord na Móna’s commitment to developing clean energy resources. This offshore wind joint venture will specifically support Ireland achieve target of 7GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Ocean Winds, energy leaders ENGIE and EDPR’s joint venture dedicate to offshore wind energy, brings a track record of experience to help develop the offshore renewable industry in Ireland, with a current portfolio of 14 offshore wind farms in 7 countries, with a 14.6 GW of gross capacity, including 1.5 GW already in operation.

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment commented, “The Irish Government recognises our geographic and climate advantages in terms of wind energy and is developing public policy proposals to support this. This joint venture is a momentous step towards our commitment to produce most of our electricity from renewable sources – up to 80% – by 2030. It also marks a new chapter in Bord na Móna’s 90-year history in supplying energy to local communities across the island. Ocean Winds’ international expertise and record of accomplishment is supporting Ireland to increase its offshore wind capacity. I look forward to this partnership helping to ensure a secure, sustainable, and cost-effective energy future for Ireland.”

Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement and eGovernment at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said, “Today’s launch is a significant step for Bord na Móna in terms of their transition to a leading climate solutions company and supporting and delivering Ireland’s objective, to become carbon neutral by 2050. Ireland, and indeed Bord na Móna, has a great track record of building on shore, now we prove our capabilities offshore. Between creating employment, and providing secure, sustainable and cheaper electricity - the scale and potential benefit to our country is beyond compare. Bord na Móna is repeatedly proving itself to be very much “More than Móna”.

Also speaking at the launch, Grzegorz Gorski, COO of Ocean Winds said, “Ocean Winds is delighted to announce this joint venture today with Bord na Móna which we believe is the perfect pairing of our international expertise with Bord na Móna’s long history working in local communities in Ireland. We look forward to forging a long-term relationship with Bord na Móna to support Ireland in its bid to harness its natural wind resources for a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.”

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment speaking at the Ocean Winds and Bord na Móna new offshore wind partnership

He added, “By working closely with local stakeholders OW aims to bring together communities and to support their development through ongoing engagement and investment with more than a decade’s experience, OW has a strong track record of using our strength as global leaders in the renewables sector to create opportunities for local companies who want to expand and diversify into the emerging offshore wind sector.”

Bord na Móna Chief Executive Tom Donnellan said “Today we are making a giant leap forward towards energy independence for Ireland. Bord na Móna has always been a cornerstone of Irish energy security. We have been developing renewable energy infrastructure since the early 1990s working with communities to deliver a range of lasting local and regional benefits. Ocean Winds bring an incredible wealth of experience in developing and delivering offshore energy from around the globe. Together we will ensure that Ireland’s vast untapped reservoir of offshore energy will be harnessed for the good of Irish society, the economy and the planet. The projects we will develop will be of such a large scale that Ireland will be able to rely on Irish energy sources and massively reduce dependence on foreign pollutants including gas and oil”.