Gaelectric, Ideol Unveil Floating Wind Plans for Ireland

Irish renewable energy group Gaelectric has partnered with Ideol to develop floating offshore wind energy projects in Irish waters using Ideol’s Damping Pool technology.

The two companies are investigating several sites in Irish waters for both short term pre-commercial and long term commercial-scale projects, with an initial objective to develop a 30MW+ turbine array project, followed by a multi-GW commercial-scale extension on both Irish coasts.

Gaelectric Founding Shareholder, Brendan McGrath, said: “The Irish government’s Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan has identified a potential for the generation of 27,000 MW from floating offshore wind in Irish coastal waters.

“Ideol’s floating foundation technology opens up the prospect of creating an enduring, sustainable indigenous industry along the west coast and provides Ireland with the opportunity to rebalance available job opportunities while creating a significant energy hub in western towns and ports. A fully commercial scale offshore project of 500 MW capacity based on Ideol’s technology has the potential to create up to 2,500 construction jobs with a further 200 in maintenance.”

Ideol’s floating offshore wind solution is at the heart of multiple demonstration and pre-commercial floating offshore wind projects in France and Japan, including the Floatgen project currently under construction off the Atlantic coast of France near Saint-Nazaire.

In late 2015, the company signed an agreement with Group China Steel Corporation (CSC) to co-operate on floating wind development in Taiwan.

Recently, Ideol also partnered with Atlantis Resources for the development of a floating wind project in the UK.

Ideol’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul de la Guérivière, said: “After France, Japan, Taiwan and the UK, we are proud to have our technology recognized in a promising market such as Ireland. During the initial phase of our collaboration with Gaelectric we intend to take full advantage of our unique ability to be installed at depths as shallow as 30m. This 30MW+ project will complement the insights and data we will be accumulating from our French and Japanese demonstration and pre-commercial projects and pave the way for our commercial-scale projects.”

When it comes to Gaelectric’s involvement in offshore wind, the company teamed up with Oriel Windfarm in 2015 to bring the North Irish Sea Array (NISA) project to realisation.