ARKLOW BANK WIND PARK - PHASE 2

Operations and Maintenance Facility

Public Consultation 2021

We will be running a Public Consultation from 7-25 June 2021. The purpose of this consultation is to provide the public with information about our plans for a state-of-the-art Operations and Maintenance Facility at South Dock, Arklow and to invite feedback.

Feedback gathered from this phase will be used to inform our plans before a planning application is submitted to Wicklow County Council later this year.

Visit our virtual exhibition:

As part of this Public Consultation, we have developed a virtual exhibition where you can view details of our plans and find out more about our vision for the next phase of Arklow Bank Wind Park.

Click here to enter our virtual exhibition.

Arklow Bank Wind Park Phase 2 will be located off the coast of Arklow, Co. Wicklow. The 520MW project is the next phase of wind energy development at Arklow Bank. Phase 1 of the Wind Park was constructed in 2003/04 consisting of seven wind turbines with a capacity of 25.2 MW. Phase 1 is owned and operated by GE Energy under a sublease to the foreshore lease and remains the first and only operational offshore wind farm in Ireland.

Now, SSE Renewables is proposing to invest between €1 billion and €2 billion to develop Arklow Bank Wind Park to its full potential.

We plan to create around 80 full-time jobs to support the operation of the new offshore wind farm.

These local jobs will be sustained over the lifespan of the wind farm and will be based out of a new purpose-built Operations Base at Arklow Harbour’s South Dock.

During construction and operation, we plan to support local businesses across South Wicklow and North Wexford, including companies in the supply chain in Wicklow Port and Arklow Harbour.

The project has a Foreshore Lease and with an export capacity of 520MW the project will power almost 450,000 homes annually and offset over half a million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

The foreshore lease area is situated 6km to 13km off the Co. Wicklow coastline, to the east of Arklow, and covers an area approximately 27km long and 2.5km wide. Arklow Bank is in shallow water in the Irish Sea, making the foreshore lease area ideally suited to the efficient development of offshore energy infrastructure.

The existing foreshore lease provides consent for up to 200 wind turbines. However, advances in turbine technology over the past 15 years mean the anticipated export capacity of the wind farm can be achieved through the development and installation of up to 76 turbines in the same foreshore
lease area.

• Reduce Ireland’s annual carbon emissions by around 1% - offsetting over half a million tonnes of harmful CO2^
• Generate 520MW of electricity - enough to power almost 450,000 homes with green energy^
• Contribute to Ireland’s 2025 Climate Action Plan target of 1GW of offshore wind by 2025
• Create around 80 full-time local operational jobs for the lifespan of the windfarm
• Contribute millions of euro annually in Community Benefit Funding and local commercial rates
• Capital investment of between €1bn and €2bn to power our green recovery

_{^ 433,829 homes powered based on projected capacity, typical projected wind load factor of 40%, and typical annual consumption (4,200kWh). Quoted 530,225 tonnes of carbon emissions abated based on projected annual MWh output and latest average CO2 Emissions (0.291t/MWh) in the All-Island Single Electricity Market and published by the CRU in its Fuel Mix Disclosure and CO2 Emissions for 2018, September 2019.}