Plans are to be lodged in the coming days with An Bord Pleanála for a landmark 450MW wind farm with 30 turbines more than 304 metres high off the Galway and Clare coasts.
The 30-turbine Sceirde Rocks Offshore Wind Farm by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta is to be located 5km to 11.5km off the west coast, with Carna in Galway the nearest settlement.
The project is to be the first offshore wind farm off Ireland’s west coast to go through to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission and is to power 350,000 Irish homes, save an estimated 550,000 tonnes of CO² per year, and results in investment of up to €70 million in local community initiatives.
The proposed wind farm will have a maximum tip-height of 325 metres (1,066 feet).
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The project also involves landfall works at Killard on the Clare coast, close to US President-elect Donald Trump’s golf resort at Doonbeg.
[ Campaign opposing large wind farm at Sceirde Rocks in Connemara being scaled upOpens in new window ]
At Killard, which lies south of the Trump Doonbeg resort, the renewable energy firm is planning to construct an underground link connecting the offshore cable to the onshore grid.
The planning notice said the link would consist of an underground concrete chamber measuring 20m x 5m wide with a depth of 2.5m. A temporary construction compound will be built at Killard.
Accounts recently filed by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta show the company has already invested €31.7 million on project costs in 2023 and 2024.
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The accounts show the company had accumulated losses of €35.93 million at the end of March last as the company steered the project through various regulatory hurdles.
The company is a joint venture between the Australian-based Macquarie Group and global infrastructure investor the Ontario Teachers Pension Board.
Stakeholder manager for Sceirde Rocks Windfarm, Michael Cloherty said: “This planning application marks the culmination of around three years of surveying, data analysis and community engagement activity.
“We have worked closely with the local community to design a project which we believe will deliver on their needs and expectations, and we are grateful to everyone who met our team and engaged with us throughout this process.”
Subject to the 10-year consent being granted, construction is currently expected to begin in 2026, with the first generation of electricity from 2030. The wind farm is to be operational for 38 years.
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