Wind project planned off coast by blue economy developer
Several public consultations on a proposed floating offshore wind project off the Cork coast are planned with the first starting this afternoon, Thursday.
Simply Blue Group, a blue economy developer headquartered in Cork, has launched a virtual and in person public consultations for the Emerald Offshore Wind Project, situated between 35km and 60km south of the Old Head of Kinsale.
The in person consultations will take place on:
• Thursday 19 January in Temperance Hall, Kinsale, from 2-8pm
• Tuesday 31 January in Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, from 2-8pm
• Thursday 2 February in Aghada Community Hall from 2-8pm
Work on the Emerald Offshore Wind project first commenced in 2020 and since then a comprehensive programme has been undertaken to appropriately identify and assess the site and boundary selection for each element of the proposed infrastructure including offshore site, cable routes, onshore landing locations and substation locations.
Speaking about the Emerald Offshore Wind Project, Val Cummins, Project Managing Director said “We are committed to engaging with all our stakeholders and communities at each stage of the project and we would encourage stakeholders to participate in the consultation of the scoping report.
“We believe this is a very exciting project which delivers on Simply Blue Group’s commitment to creating new economic opportunities for coastal communities and developing projects that co-exist with sustainable fisheries and marine conservation. We look forward to engaging and receiving feedback over the coming weeks.”
The Emerald Offshore Wind project is being developed, Simply Blue said, in response to Irish Government policy and commitment to deploy up to 7GW of offshore wind projects in Ireland by 2030.
The company said this “ambition will allow Ireland to meet targets set out in the Climate Action Planto ensure 80% of electricity generation from renewable sources”.
The closest turbines to shore are proposed to be around 35km and will have a total capacity of up to 1.3 GigaWatts (GW), which could power over 1 million Irish homes.
Simply Blue said: “The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping report describes the key elements of the Emerald Project, the baseline conditions, and sensitivities of the receiving environment likely to be affected by the Emerald Project, and the studies and assessments proposed. It provides an outline of the proposed approach and content of the Environment Impact Assessment Report (EIAR).
“The scoping report provides an opportunity for stakeholder engagement, with feedback sought from the public to further inform the content and scope of the EIAR.”
The EIA scoping report is now available for virtual public consultation and can be accessed at simplybluegroup.com. Feedback can be given via a response to the form in the virtual room or directly to the team via info@emeraldfloatingwind.com. The consultation will remain open until 16 March.
For further information on the Emerald project, please visit Emeraldfloatingwind.com.