The Oriel offshore wind farm project has reached a new milestone as investigation works were green lit off the coast of Dundalk.

These surveys will record specific wind data of the offshore site and data on the seabed conditions of the future site, needed mainly for the engineering design of the foundations for the wind turbines. 

This comes after the government's recently published Climate Action Plan set a target of 3.5GW of offshore wind for Ireland in the next decade, which will help renewables account for 70 percent of electricity generation by 2030. 

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Parkwind will begin the investigations in August in close dialogue with the relevant stakeholders and the local community.

Peter Caluwaerts, project director at Parkwind, said: "The license to commence two important surveys marks another significant milestone in the Oriel Project. This allows us to add wind data gathering and soil data surveys to our already ongoing ecological surveys on the site. A buoy containing equipment that will measure the specific wind data of the Oriel offshore site for a year will be deployed in August this year. The soil investigation campaign is also due to start in August. 

"The Climate Action Plan that came out earlier this week clearly highlights the need to advance on these works. With the support of our dedicated main shareholders Parkwind and ESB, it is our ambition to make Oriel Windfarm the first large scale offshore wind farm in Ireland, thus contributing to the wider goals of the Irish Government on energy transition."

(CM/JG)