SSE proposes US$2.2 billion investment in Irish offshore wind

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Scottish energy company SSE has disclosed plans to expand the 25.2 MW Arklow Bank offshore wind farm, located off the coast of County Wicklow, eastern Ireland, to over 500 MW. SSE is proposing to invest between EUR1 and 2 billion (US$1.16 and 2.32 billion) in the project.

The Arklow Bank wind farm is owned and operated by GE Energy. It was co-developed in 2004 by (now SSE subsidiary) Airtricity and GE Energy as a demonstrator project and remains the first and only operational offshore wind farm in Ireland. It is located 10km from the shore.

SSE owns a foreshore lease area 13km off the County Wicklow coastline, to the east of Arklow, that covers an area approximately 27km long and 2.5km wide. The lease provides consent for up to 200 wind turbines with a minimum total installed capacity of 520 MW.

However, advances in turbine technology over the past 15 years mean that the maximum installed capacity can be achieved through the development and installation of around 100 turbines in the same foreshore lease area. 

SSE estimates that the Arklow Bank expansion will be capable of generating around 1.75 TWh of renewable electricity annually – enough green energy to power 420,000 homes and offset 640,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

One of the main drivers of the expansion is the ideal location. The lease area covers a shallow water sandbank in the Irish Sea ideally suited to the efficient development of offshore energy infrastructure. Furthermore, the short distance to the coastline minimises subsea cable length. Thus, the project will require less grid infrastructure than equivalent onshore energy developments of matching scale to bring power via undersea cable to strategically located existing substations.

SSE presented its proposal for the expansion to Wicklow County Council last week. No timeline has yet been set out for the development for the project, including the securing of required regulatory approvals.