Metocean company TechWorks Marine today announce the completion of a 12-month oceanographic campaign in the North Eastern Irish Sea for ESB and Parkwind at Clogherhead.
Three metocean data buoys were deployed within the wind park area and along the export cable route, to provide high resolution data on sea state (currents and waves) and water quality. Data was collected in real-time using satellite communication and provided to our clients through our secure CoastEye data platform. Earth Observation satellite data was also provided for some of the water quality parameters, which was validated by the metocean buoy measurements.
TechWorks Marine designed the metocean buoys specific to the client requirements, including all oceanographic sensors, vessel provision for deployment, servicing and recovery, real-time ongoing data quality control, and the final data report, which included an intercomparison with an initial site model which had been previously developed prior to this baseline survey.
Dr. Sinead McGlynn, Project Director on behalf of TechWorks Marine said “We were delighted to have won this contract with ESB and Parkwind through a competitive tender process; oceanographic surveys such as these are critical to the engineering design of offshore wind parks such as this one at Clogherhead. We are looking forward to building and growing on this project and other similar ones with both ESB and Parkwind”.
Mr. Conor Martin, Clogherhead Project Director said: “The successful completion of the Metocean survey by TechWorks Marine is a key step in the development of the Clogherhead Offshore Wind Farm. The essential data that will be provided from this will enable informed decisions for the design and delivery of the Clogherhead project. This is so important as it is offshore wind projects like this that will be very much at the centre of our goal to reach net zero by 2040 at ESB.”
The completion of this survey comes at an exciting time for the Irish offshore wind energy sector.
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About Clogherhead Offshore Wind Farm Project: ESB and Parkwind are collaborating to investigate the feasibility of developing the Clogherhead Offshore Wind Farm, approximately 10km off the County Louth coast. If successful Clogherhead Offshore Wind Farm will be the second project co-developed by this partnership, following on from the nearby Oriel Wind Farm Project. Ireland has excellent offshore wind conditions, and the relatively shallow waters off the east coast of Ireland make it suitable for fixed foundation offshore wind projects. Following positive indications from high level desktop studies as well as ESB and Parkwind experience in this area of the Irish Sea; foreshore licence applications were made. The foreshore licence areas cover a large area of seabed which will be substantially refined following environmental and engineering surveys as well as extensive consultation with local coastal communities, to include both fishing and other maritime area users. As winds are stronger and more consistent offshore than onshore, there is greater potential to install larger turbines at sea relative to onshore. The combination of high wind speeds and larger turbines allow for greater energy generation. Not only will an offshore wind farm generate more energy, it will generate clean energy on a more consistent basis. This makes it easier for the grid operator to integrate this renewable electricity source. https://www.clogherheadwind.ie/
For additional queries, please contact info@techworks.ie
