Dublin & La Ciotat, France, Friday 17 March, 2017 – Irish renewable energy group Gaelectric and internationally recognized French floating offshore wind leader, Ideol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop floating offshore wind energy projects in Irish waters using Ideol’s patented ‘Damping Pool®’ technology. Gaelectric and Ideol are investigating several sites in Irish waters for both short term pre-commercial and long term commercial-scale projects, with an initial objective to develop a 30MW+ turbine array project, followed by a multi-GW commercial-scale extension on both Irish coasts.
Ideol’s innovative solution is at the heart of multiple demonstration and pre-commercial floating offshore wind projects in France and Japan, including the Floatgen project currently under construction off the Atlantic coast of France near Saint-Nazaire (http://live.floatgen.eu/). Gaelectric is one of Ireland’s leading renewable energy and energy storage groups with significant interests in both onshore and offshore wind energy development and operations, including its North Irish Sea Array (or ‘NISA’) co-venture with Oriel Wind Farm Ltd.
Ideol’s floating foundation using its proprietary ‘Damping Pool®’ technology can withstand open sea conditions and is the only floating sub-structure that can be moored in both shallow and deep waters. The foundation is particularly suited to the next generation of extra large wind turbines and is less invasive on the seabed compared with bottom-fixed foundations.
Witnessing the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding agreement between Ideol and Gaelectric at a St. Patrick’s Day event in Cannes, Irish Minister for Social Protection, Mr. Leo Varadkar TD said:
“I am delighted that Ireland and France are co-operating in this common goal of harnessing the energy potential of the marine environment. This initiative and agreement between Ideol and Gaelectric has the potential to make a major contribution to sustainability and employment in Ireland and France.”
