Donegal, Ireland to see large wind farm built off coast

DUBLIN, Ireland: Donegal has signed agreements for the building of its first off-shore wind farm.

The wind farm has the potential to deliver up to 2 gigawatts of energy, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

To move forward with the construction of the offshore wind farm, agreements were signed between the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO) and Sinbad Marine Services, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with global floating offshore wind developer Hexicon AB.

The wind farm is to be located more than 50km off the Donegal coast.

The process to develop the wind farm site will include ongoing input from local fishermen, including with site selection, cable routing, and land fall, which will be agreed upon as a group.

Ireland has been a focus of the Global Wind Energy Council, which said it is one of the top five emerging markets for offshore wind power. Officials point to Ireland having some of the world's best wind resources, with wind speeds over 10 meters per second.

"This is a unique new approach to how floating wind energy can work, in collaboration with fishermen. We at the KFO weren't interested in being presented with a fait accompli nor lines drawn on maps by any prospective developer. In signing this MoU, we have guaranteed that we will be at the center of a project which has the potential to be economically-transformative," said Marcus Thor, CEO of Hexicon, according to the Donegal Daily.