As elsewhere across Europe, offshore wind development is driven by significant political commitment, and the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan commits to having at least 3.5 GW of offshore wind in Ireland in the next ten years, which will help renewables account for 70% of electricity generation by 2030.

Partrac has been involved in a variety of supporting roles with 3 of the Irish offshore wind projects currently under development, utilizing both metocean survey and consultancy expertise. Partrac roles in assisting the development of the Irish offshore wind sector to date include:

• Scoping and planning of Hydrographic and Metocean Surveys.
• Deployment and servicing of Floating Lidar and Metocean measurement equipment in support of site characterisation and feasibility studies.
• Review and analysis of Lidar wind resource data.
• Scoping assessment of the marine and coastal physical processes topic area for EIA.
• Assisting developers with marine and coastal physical processes at their sites, as they move through the regulatory and consenting process.
• Study of complex seabed morphodynamics to assist front end engineering design and planning of WTG and cable (inter array and export) layouts.

“We are very pleased to be playing a part in the Irish offshore wind sector, providing specialist support across a range of field surveys and consultancy. We are confident that our input and assistance will help towards achieving the goals for offshore wind set out in the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan”.

Dr. Kevin Black, technical director of Partrac.