7/13/23, 12:46 PM Trouble brewing with nearshore turbines as Irish offshore wind energy reaches launch phase – The

launch phase – The Irish Times

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Environment Analysis

Trouble brewing with nearshore turbines as Irish offshore wind

energy reaches launch phase
Locals and campaigners warn of fast-tracking development and point to alternatives they say can
yield the same benefits at a lower environmental cost

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Sceirde Rocks, the proposed site of a large-scale wind farm with turbines the size of the Eiffel Tower just 5km from the shore. Photograph:
Nicholas Grundy

Kevin O'Sullivan
Sat Apr 29 2023 - 05:00

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7/13/23, 12:46 PM Trouble brewing with nearshore turbines as Irish offshore wind energy reaches launch phase – The Irish Times

Ireland is at the point of scale-up of its vast offshore wind resources. The green light is months rather than
years away for the first tranche of wind farms. Some communities will soon see renewable energy
progress in the form of what one campaign group calls “mountain-high turbines”.
The Government has issued marine area consents (MACs) for seven projects using fixed-foundation
turbines; six in the Irish Sea and one off Co Galway. The projects are being fast-tracked in a streamlined
planning process. All are likely to be granted foreshore licences to intensively survey locations in advance
of submitting planning applications this year.
They will take part in Ireland’s first offshore renewable electricity support scheme auction shortly, bidding
to supply energy in a 20-year time frame.
We can have everything: renewable energy, decarbonisation, the technology to allow turbines beyond
22km ... without industrialising the coastline
—  Mick O’Meara of the Blue Horizon campaign group
This is the first phase to generate seven gigawatts of offshore power by 2030 – more than enough for the
country’s electricity needs, putting Ireland on a path to becoming a renewables exporter.
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Assuming planning hurdles are cleared, the turbines’ imposing presence will be obvious in an almost
continuous line looking out to sea from Co Louth to Co Wexford, but perhaps most obviously on the
coastline of southwest Connemara, at Sceirde Rocks.

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At that location there are likely to be up to 30 turbines reaching more than 300 metres – as tall as the Eiffel
Tower – with the nearest just 5km from shore, part of a 450-megawatt development capable of powering
350,000 homes and costing up to €2 billion.
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If ever there was a panorama capturing the west of Ireland’s beauty it is the view out to sea from Carna in
Connemara. When the sun is shining, St MacDara’s Island (Oileán Mhic Dara), Mason Island (Oileán
Máisin) and Mweenish Island (Oileán Muighinis) appear as if dropped into turquoise waters in a line, with
golden sands peppering the seascape and Sceirde Rocks immediately beyond.
The developer, Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta (FST), is owned by Macquarie’s Green Investment Group
(GIG), which has set up Corio Generation to manage its wind portfolio with global infrastructure investor
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Some 30 local fishermen were compensated for keeping out of the area
last year during surveying.
According to Hugh Ryan of Ard Thiar, Carna, there should be a review to establish the impact “proposed
mega turbines” will have on the local environment and landscape above and below the water line before
permission is granted for a wind farm at Sceirde Rocks.
[ Fintan O'Toole: Too much hot air and not enough energy brought to offshore wind plans ]

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MacDara Island and Mason Island can be seen from Carna, Connemara

In a letter to Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan, he underlined this should be in the context of far larger
turbines being used than originally envisaged in 2008 and the new option of floating turbines farther out
to sea.
Sceirde Rocks is a unique feature off the west coast while MacDara’s Island, which is closest to the rocks,
has one of Ireland’s finest examples of an early Christian oratory, noted Hugh Ryan. “There has been
much success in developing the Wild Atlantic Way. Both the Sceirde Rocks and MacDara’s Island are an
integral part of the beauty and wildness of this coast. Carna and its neighbouring villages are trying to
bring tourism into the area. A project of [this] scale ... will desecrate such a wild and beautiful area.”
He said he was alarmed by the lack of proposed marine life protection. The shallow reef between Sceirde
Rocks and MacDara’s Island provides an excellent habitat for lobster and crab. Local fishermen have
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fished these waters sustainably for generations. “The drilling and associated disturbance proposed in the
application will have huge repercussions for this habitat,” he argued.
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The drilling and associated disturbance proposed in application will have huge repercussions for this
habitat, he believed.
Mace Head weather station is located nearby, a globally-important facility for monitoring air quality in the
atmosphere. It is positioned far away from major urban areas to ensure no pollutants interfere with
measurements. It recorded the cleanest air in Europe last year.
“If this windfarm goes ahead the station will have to be relocated due to the impact the turbines will have
on air movement and the contamination of the air by pollutants produced during the construction phase
as well as the use of anti-corrosion chemicals on a maintenance basis,” Ryan submitted.
Many countries insist offshore wind farms are located at least 15-20km from the shore – beyond the
horizon, while floating structures can be anchored in operation and removed when decommissioned, he
said.
Hugh Ryan acknowledged the rush to get wind farms up and running to reduce emissions. “Planning for a
floating wind farm further offshore could be fast-tracked. This would allow us to avoid making a decision
that could be regretted for generations to come.”
Among submissions on the foreshore licence application, civil engineer Siobhán Kennedy, who lives on
Muighinis, near Carna, said there were deficiencies in FST’s environmental assessment, including a
failure to demonstrate how the Government’s 2023 climate plan requirement for “development of offshore
renewable energy to progress at pace alongside the conservation, protection and recovery of marine
biodiversity” will be met.

She submitted that the GIG has a poor track record in terms of financial management, maintenance of
infrastructure and protection of the environment – claims denied by GIG.
“Given the scale of the risk involved – drilling 60 boreholes into the seabed in an important marine area
cannot be without impact – is this really the type of actor we wish to have involved? How can any of the
documents associated with the foreshore licence application be taken at face value if the independent
trustees [Green Purposes Company] tasked with ensuring GIG delivers truly impactful and effective green
infrastructure projects are highlighting a lack of transparency across multiple key areas of GIG’s work?”
If FST is allowed to proceed, said Elin Payne of Ard Thiar, then the Government “can be credibly accused
of greenwashing by promoting its ‘fast-tracking’ of wind-generated energy production for Ireland while
disregarding the significant negative environmental consequences to the local seabed, the marine life that
inhabits it, the coastal landscape and the fishing and tourism that sustain this pristine section of
coastline”.
Donnacha Gallagher conducted a study of visual intrusion for a postgraduate degree at DCU. He concluded
that if accepting that wind farms are going to become a feature in seascapes, there must be consensus on
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what the public finds visually appealing or acceptable, with this backed by rules or regulations.
An essential area for guidance concerns height-to-distance ratios and field-of-view angles. If FST has
turbines over 300 metres, that ratio and angle will be particularly imposing for Carna residents; less so at
Roundstone.
Gallagher believes treasured seascapes need to be catalogued to ensure they are not impacted. “The more
controversial sites will be the long stretch of turbines along the Wicklow coast, and potentially the
Waterford coast,” he says.

The least impactful developments with turbine clusters will get planning permission while the most
impactful will face delays, he predicts.
[ Fintan O’Toole: The EU has a vast untapped energy resource – Ireland ]
Mick O’Meara of Blue Horizon is part of a campaign group with a single mantra: “Yes to offshore wind –
No to nearshore wind” off the south coast. Under the next offshore tranche, at least 12 projects are
planned for the Celtic Sea; four are fixed-bottom, less than 10km from shore.
“We can have everything: renewable energy, decarbonisation, the technology to allow turbines beyond
22km,” says O’Meara, while “preserving culture, heritage and a sense of peace looking out at the horizon
and leaving the world behind, rather than industrialising the coastline”.
Citing projects in Scandinavia and Portugal, he believes floating technology is readily available.

Turbines 20km off the coast of Viana do Castelo, northern Portugal. Photograph: Hugo Amaral/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

O’Meara stresses that his group has no truck with nimbyism but is adamant that having “mountain-high
turbines” nearshore is an unnecessary intrusion – as fixed-bottom turbines can go out to deeper waters of
60m-plus.
“I have kayaked around Ireland twice ... I have sat on MacDara Island. There will be turbines 3km away.
What are they thinking?”

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A Corio spokesman confirmed there could up to 30 fixed-bottom turbines; the precise number will be
decided after geotechnical testing this summer. The turbine height will depend on the final design and
available technology, said the spokesman. It will connect to EirGrid’s transmission system at Moneypoint.
“The project has a fisheries liaison officer as part of its team and engaged with over 40 separate fishers in
the area, and successfully completed surveys last summer ... Photomontages of the proposed wind farm
will be published this summer,” said the spokesman.
“The wind farm will contribute significantly to the future development of the local area, through job
opportunities and economic development ... It will have a community benefit fund that will strengthen
and support cultural economic and community infrastructure in the Gaeltacht area,” he added.
A GIG spokesman said: “We value our positive and constructive relationship with the Green Purposes
Company and we were pleased that their most recent letter concluded that GIG remains a market leader in
green investment with expertise to shift the dial on flow of capital into green projects. However, we don’t
rest on that position and welcome the trustees’ feedback as we grow our business and accelerate
investment in the energy transition.”
[ Wind farms to get paid for electricity they do not supply ]
With two fishing boats, one operating from Roundstone and the other in the Irish Sea, fisherman Kevin
Conneely says “you would do well to find someone worse affected” by the first-phase projects, five of
which are in areas he fishes all year round.
He took a legal case to ensure he continues to have the right to fish at Sceirde Rocks – securing agreement
cost him €25,000. There is no agreement on any compensation for him but if the five projects proceed “I
will be out of business”, he maintains.
The FST turbines will be higher than Errisbeg, which dominates the landscape around Roundstone, says
Conneely.
“It’s enough to keep you awake at night. There is poor consultation or they say things will be sorted and
they aren’t. It’s out of the control of the State.
“If we are the cost of saving the planet, come out and say it,” he adds, predicting no fishers will be allowed
tow gear in among offshore wind farms.
Carna boatbuilder John Casey points to the uniqueness of Sceirde Rocks – an area his father used to fish.
He has a lingering concern that not enough surveying of its habitats and bedrock will be carried out: “I
wouldn’t want that to be affected.”
Renewable energy is obviously the way forward, says Casey, but he fears this wind farm will be obsolete in
20 years. He favours using floating turbines farther out.
[ Public supports wind turbines in their areas, claims lobby group ]
[ Ireland’s fragile marine ecosystems at risk from wind power growth, Coastwatch warns ]
There is interest in FST’s development fund to support the local community in an area of declining
population and to which people find it hard to return after leaving for college. Some locals are fearful, but
Casey believes the correct decision will be made, if backed by proper research.
Eamon Ryan Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Climate change Biodiversity Galway Connemara

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