They are located in three clusters. The 1000MW Inis Ealga Marine Energy Park off County Cork and the 1000MW Clarus off County Clare will be developed as floating projects, while the 1000MW Shelmalere off the east coast will comprise fixed foundations.
Once operational, they could generate enough green energy to power the equivalent of 2.6m Irish households, according to Iberdrola. Initially developed by DP Energy, at least two of the three are expected to be operational between 2028 and 2030.
Currently, Ireland’s only operational offshore wind farm is the 25.2MW Arklow Bank . Located off the coast of County Wicklow, it was developed by GE and SSE. The latter plans to add a 520MW extension, known as 800MW Arklow Bank 2 .
Wind experts have in the past voiced concerns about the difficulties of harvesting the Atlantic wind resources off Ireland’s west coast for floating projects. Nevertheless, the Irish government last year sought to accelerate over 3GW of offshore wind capacity through a new marine permitting regime. Its climate change policies include plans for 5GW of operational offshore wind capacity by 2030, with some estimates putting Ireland’s potential offshore wind capacity at 40GW.
Iberdrola will acquire a majority stake in Cork-based DP Energy’s offshore business. DP Energy is already working with Iberdrola, at the 317MW Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park in South Australia.
The latest acquisition adds to Iberdrola`s growing offshore wind portfolio, which includes the 350MW Wikinger and 476MW Baltic Eagle projects in the German Baltic Sea, 714MW East Anglia ONE and the East Anglia Hub – 800MW East Anglia ONE North , 960MW East Anglia TWO and the 1372MW East Anglia THREE projects in the North Sea, 389MW West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea, Vineyard Wind – 806MW Vineyard Wind 1 and {{Vineyard Wind 1 phase II-4295d688-7517-6f16-9892-d9a758c9ae2a}} – off the coast of Massachusetts and 496MW Saint-Brieuc in France.
In Denmark, Iberdrola is also working with Total on an auction process for the 1080MW Thor offshore wind farm. Elsewhere, it has also acquired 9GW of early-stage offshore capacity in Sweden, more than 3GW in Japan and up to 7.3GW in Poland bringing its global offshore pipeline to more than 30 GW.
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