The first phase of public consultation on the Codling Wind Park project – set to be Ireland’s largest offshore wind farm, located off the coast of County Wicklow, between Greystones and Wicklow Town – will begin on Monday (March 1).
Two-week online exhibition on flagship offshore wind project
Latest project plans and information on display
Webinars and virtual information clinics
Opportunity to provide feedback and help shape the future design of the project
With an expected capacity of up to 1,500 megawatts (MW), Codling Wind Park has the potential to supply the equivalent of up to 1.2 million¹ Irish homes – 70%² of all Irish households – with low-carbon, locally-produced, low-cost electricity, and to save almost 2 million³ tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
Representing one of the largest energy infrastructure investments in Ireland this decade, the project will deliver substantial benefits to the regional and national economy, including more than 1,000 construction jobs and 70 long-term, locally-based jobs.
Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, face-to-face engagements are not possible and so a series of online consultation activities will take place from March 1 to March 27. In addition to a two-week virtual exhibition, there will also be two webinars hosted by the project team and a series of virtual information clinics to facilitate individual and small group meetings with project representatives.
Further phases of consultation are planned for the summer and autumn, to share updated plans as the project progresses and provide further opportunities for feedback.
The virtual exhibition will display project plans as they currently stand and showcase the important role Codling will play in helping Ireland to achieve its Climate Action Plan targets. It will also set out the substantial range of benefits that will arise from the project, including for local communities, as well as the wider benefits for the regional and national economy.
Codling Wind Park Project Director, Arno Verbeek said: “Our ambition is to not only develop a project of which Ireland can be proud, but to help create the right conditions for the development of a strong and sustainable offshore wind industry in Ireland.
We want to contribute to Ireland’s low carbon ambitions and help generate a cleaner environment, not only for today’s generation, but for generations to come.
“We are in the early stages of planning our project and this is the first of many opportunities people will have to see our progress and provide their feedback. Listening to and engaging with the public and all our stakeholders is an important part of our journey, as we want to do this in partnership. Feedback is incredibly important to us, and we hope that many people will take the time to view our initial plans and share their thoughts with us. This input will help us to shape and design the project in the months ahead.”
The Codling Wind Park virtual exhibition can be accessed via this project website. Details of the webinars and information clinics, and how to register for them, are also available on this website.
¹ Calculation as follows: 1,500MW (installed capacity) x 0.3886 (offshore wind load factor, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy UK, 2015 to 2019) x 8,760 (hours in a year) / 4.2MWh (average household Irish annual electricity consumption) = 1,215,762
² Calculation as follows: According to the Census of Ireland 2016, there are 1,697,665 permanent occupied dwellings, or households, in the State. 1,215,762/1,697,665 = 71.6%
³ Based on the SEAI 2018 carbon intensity figure of 385gCO2/kWh. Calculation for Codling: 1,500MW x 0.3886 (load factor: BEIS July 2020) x 8,760 (hours in the year) x 385 ) /1,000 = 1,965,888 tonnes of CO2 per year
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Notes to Editors
About EDF Renewables
EDF Renewables UK and Ireland (EDF-R) is a joint venture between two companies, EDF Energy (EDF’s UK business) and EDF Renewables Group (EDF’s global renewables business). EDF Renewables Group has more than 25 years of experience in delivering renewable energy projects in more than 20 countries around the world. EDF-R has an operating portfolio of 36 wind farms and one of the UK’s largest battery storage units (together totalling almost 1GW). The company is providing some of the much-needed new affordable, low carbon electricity across all technologies. EDF-R has an expanding renewables portfolio with almost 4GW of projects in planning and development across wind, battery and solar. It also has 600MW of projects currently under construction. EDF-R has offices in Edinburgh, Durham, London and Dublin.
About Fred. Olsen Renewables
Fred. Olsen Renewables AS (FOR) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bonheur ASA and is responsible for the group’s renewable energy development activities within the wind sector. FOR is a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy assets, currently within onshore wind farms. FOR operates in all parts of the value chain, from business development and site acquisition, concept development to detailed design, construction, commissioning and operations to sale of electricity. As of 2020, FOR’s portfolio consisted of 679MW of operational onshore assets and close to 4GW of onshore and offshore assets in development.