Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, has visited Kincardine Floating Offshore Wind Farm and the Fraserburgh Operations and Maintenance Centre for Moray East Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland.

Ireland aims to achieve 5GW of operational offshore wind capacity by 2030, with an additional 2GW in the development pipeline. By 2040, the goal is to escalate this capacity to 20GW, and further increase it to 37GW by 2050.

Kincardine, situated 15 kilometers off the coast of Aberdeen, holds the title of being the world's largest floating offshore wind farm. Fraserburgh serves as the central hub for the 950MW Moray East Offshore Wind Farm, managed by Ocean Winds.

Speaking during the visit, Minister Coveney said:

"Scotland has already developed several offshore wind farms and there is much we can learn from their experiences. This visit has been hugely informative in terms of seeing at first hand the technology in operation and hearing from industry experts ahead of publishing our own offshore wind industrial strategy.

-- Advertisement --

"We also discussed the potential for collaboration between Ireland and Scotland on a range of offshore wind-focussed matters such as building a successful supply chain and optimising Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) initiatives.”

"The operations centre here in Fraserburgh is a good example of how developments like this can impact positively on a small coastal community, providing jobs and other economic benefits. As we develop wind farms around our coast there will be opportunities for local communities in terms of operating and maintaining these facilities as well as transporting workers to and from installations."

The visit was facilitated by Bord na Móna and Ocean Winds, who have formed a partnership to leverage Ireland's offshore wind power resources. The Minister also met with representatives from Principle Power, who have designed floating platforms for offshore wind turbines and Farra Marine, an Irish company involved in providing crew transfers to the offshore wind farms.

Ireland's first Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy is being developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and is expected to be published next month.