Consultation launched on updated Oriel Wind Farm plans
Once operational, the Oriel offshore wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to cover the needs of over 300,000 households – more than the population of counties Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and Down. Oriel will thereby contribute to the reduction of Ireland’s carbon emissions by 600,000 tonnes per annum.
In addition to the significant environmental benefits, the Oriel project will deliver considerable investment in the area and generate local economic benefits during construction and operation.
The Oriel project is committed to providing a significant annual community fund to support local community initiatives and projects. This fund would be established in accordance with the terms of the Renewable Energy Support Scheme that is being developed by Government in early 2021.
The Oriel project, which was first promoted more than a decade ago, has been the subject of a preliminary design update and a recent round of extensive environmental studies.
As part of the update to the project design, over 20,000 hours of research has been carried out in the last two years. This research has informed an Environmental Impact Assessment Report, which will accompany the final planning application. The Oriel project is aiming to make a formal planning application in mid-2021. There will be a further opportunity to engage in the planning process when an application is submitted.
Garrett Connell, Project Manager for Oriel Windfarm Ltd. commented :
“This public consultation is an important step in the development of the Oriel project. The updated Oriel proposal will deliver significant environmental and economic benefits, both for the region and for the island of Ireland. Our emerging design harnesses new technology to deliver even greater benefit with significantly fewer higher performance turbines located further offshore.
Moving to renewable energy with projects like Oriel will be crucial for us to meet the goals in our climate action plan”.
The Government’s Climate Action Plan has set a target of 3.5GW of offshore wind energy to be onstream by 2030. Oriel is one of a small number of ‘Relevant Projects,’ which have been designated by Government and which are likely to be among the first applicants for planning consent under a new Marine planning system, currently being approved under the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill.
Due to Covid – 19 public health restrictions, Oriel will be hosting their public consultation online at www.orielwindfarm.ie. Using the latest technology, the online platform will display extensive information on the project, the planning process and photomontages of what the proposed development would look like.
An online community briefing webinar will take place on February 10th at 7pm. You can register a place at this event on our website or by emailing us at contact@orielwindfarm.ie
The goal of these events is to obtain feedback on the project. You can email your views on the project to us at contact@orielwindfarm.ie. You can also write to us at Oriel Wind Farm, DKIT, Dundalk, Co. Louth or call on 01 963 0313.
The public consultation is now available online and will run until February 19th 2021.
[UPDATE: The public consultation has been closed. We invite you to consult the different resources shared in the consultation via the links available at the top of our homepage. You are also welcome to book an appointment with our team in the temporary Public Information Office provided COVID-19 restrictions allow us to do so. You can book an appointment via contact@orielwindfarm.ie.}