Members of the Oireachtas have completed a visit to WindFloat Atlantic, a first of its kind floating offshore wind farm operated by Ocean Winds since 2020.
The delegation included Alan Farrell TD and Senator John McGahon of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action, giving them first-hand experience of the floating offshore wind facility and its associated infrastructure.
Commenting on the visit Dan Finch, Country Manager for Ocean Winds in Ireland said: “We were delighted to host Members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Change and give them an in-person tour of the facilities of WindFloat Atlantic, located off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
“The WindFloat Atlantic project (25MW) proves that the technology is viable and gives us best practices and key learnings for floating offshore wind at commercial scale.”
He added: “In Ireland, the shallow seabed off Ireland’s east coast creates the ideal environment for bottom-fixed turbines and gives Ireland a significant advantage and an opportunity, which should be leveraged now before focussing on floating wind turbines thereafter.”
Brian Leddin TD, Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, said: “Ireland possesses significant potential and enormous climatic and geographic advantages when it comes to generating offshore wind energy, particularly floating offshore.
“It is important to take away some of the Portuguese floating offshore experience, as we progress Ireland’s journey towards maximising our own offshore wind energy capacity, be it fixed and/or floating, and meeting our ambitious 2030 climate and energy targets outlined in the Climate Action Plan 2023.”