EDF Renewables and Fred Olsen Renewables have appointed Arno Verbeek as project director for the up to 1400MW Codling offshore wind farm off the east coast of Ireland.
Verbeek has extensive experience in the offshore wind industry and will lead the development, construction and operational phases of project.
He was previously a technical director with Diamond Generating Europe in the Netherlands, a 100% owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation that owns offshore wind farms in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.
Prior to that he ran his own consultancy business and previously worked for SSE in the UK.
Verbeek was also based in Ireland for nine years while working for Airtricity and SSE Renewables Ireland.
He said: “I am pleased to be back in Ireland and to be working on such an exciting project.
“Ireland’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to double the amount of electricity it produces from renewable energy from 35% to 70% by 2030 –which is hugely ambitious.
“In order to achieve Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2030 target, offshore wind will be expected to make a substantial contribution.
“Clearly this is where a significant infrastructure project like Codling wind park has a huge role to play.
“The strong wind speeds and favourable site conditions which we have at the Codling wind park site are ideally suited for generating low cost and carbon emission free electricity.
“We are currently carrying out technical, environmental, socio-economic and commercial studies to determine the size of the wind farm, but we expect it will be up to 1.5GW.”
However, Verbeek has concerns about the capacity constraints on the national transmission network.
He said: “While Ireland is rightly seen as a world leader in the integration of renewable energy, we have seen recent reports from Energy Storage Ireland and the Irish Wind Energy Association highlighting real concerns around the grid capacity currently available for renewable energy projects.
“The transmission system is struggling to cope with the rising levels of renewable energy projects under development and it is clear the grid requires urgent reinforcement as more renewable energy projects like ours need a grid connection.”
EDF Renewables director for Ireland and offshore Michele Schiavone said: “We are very pleased Arno is joining the project and are looking forward to making progress
on Codling wind park with our partner Fred. Olsen Renewables.
“I would echo Arno’s concerns around grid capacity and add that we would also like to see progress on implementing the new offshore planning framework which is another essential element for the achievement of Ireland’s offshore wind ambitions.”
Fred Olsen Renewables chief executive Ivar Brandvold said: “This is an important moment for the Codling Wind Park and we are happy to have Arno here to take the project forward.
“Like our partners, EDF Renewables, we are keen to work with the Irish government and Eirgrid to ensure the path to building Codling is as smooth as possible over the coming years.”