Frequently asked questions

Sceirde Rocks Windfarm Project

Why do we need windfarms?

Wind energy is Ireland’s greatest weapon in responding to the climate emergency.

In 2020 Irish onshore wind farms saved 4.5 million tonnes of the CO2 emissions which are destroying our planet. That is double the savings delivered by every other renewable energy technology combined.

In 2021, the Government committed to a plan of action that will make Ireland carbon-neutral by 2050. We will need to find new ways to get to work, to heat our homes, and to power our businesses and communities.

More of what we do every day will be powered by electricity, and that electricity must be generated by renewable sources like wind.

Ireland’s 2030 climate targets

To ensure we’re on the path to net-zero emissions by mid-century, the Government has set legally-binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent by 2030.

Ireland has some of the best offshore wind resources in the world and over the rest of the decade we need to build and connect a new generation of offshore wind farms to power Ireland.

As we harness more of that boundless wind energy and push fossil fuels off the electricity grid, the renewable electricity we generate will help other sectors reduce their emissions as well.

Electricity from wind energy will reduce our reliance on fossil-fuelled transport, as buses and trains are electrified and hundreds of thousands of new electric vehicles hit our roads.

Wind energy will power the heat pumps we employ in our homes and industries, replacing boilers and heaters that run on fossil fuels.

Across the economy, hitting our climate targets will mean replacing fossil fuel technologies with electric alternatives. And as electricity powers more and more of our daily life, we will need to build more wind farms.

When will the windfarm be built?

If the project receives consent, we expect to build the windfarm from 2026-2029 with the aim of being fully operational by 2030.

How large will the windfarm be?

The windfarm will comprise 30 turbines with a maximum tip height of 325m. It will have a capacity of up to 450 megawatts, with the potential to provide enough electricity to supply more than 350,000 Irish homes with clean, secure, renewable energy.

To see a location map, please go to: About the project

Where will the windfarm be located?

The windfarm will be located between c.5km and c.12 km off the coast of Connemara, County Galway, with the closest settlement (Carna village) approx. 8km from the site.

This location has been selected due to its favourable characteristics for fixed bottom offshore wind development. Water depths of up to 60m were considered to facilitate fixed-bottom foundations.

How will the windfarm benefit local communities in Connemara?

Community support

We are proud to be part of the Connemara community and committed to ensuring that the people of Connemara benefit from our project.

Between the start of 2023 and autumn 2024 we provided approximately €150,000 in support to over 60 local organisations and initiatives through sponsorship and donations. Some examples include:

  • A donation to Elderly Day Care & Transport Service (Coiste Spreagadh na nAosach) for the local elderly community managed out of the Carna Nursing Home;
  • Sponsorship of the Galway Hookers Association(Cumann húiceirí na Gaillimhe), supporting race fees, festival costs, maintenance and admin costs for festivals in Connemara in 2023 and 2024;
  • Support to local GAA and LGFA clubs and other sports clubs in the area e.g. Connemara Boxing Club, An Gaeltacht Rugby Club, Sailing clubs etc;
  • Local National and Secondary schools;
  • Local service centres in the area, e.g. Tigh Nan Dooley School and The Elm Tree Centre
  • Local cultural and heritage events e.g. , Féile Joe Einniú, Grúpa Oidreachta agus Seandálaíochta Conamara, Coiste Láir na gCurrachaí.

You can read more about this ongoing support, and contact us about how to register your interest in being a recipient, on our Community Support page.

Community Benefit Fund

If our project receives consent, under the terms of the ORESS award we will establish a Community Benefit Fund worth up to €3.5m per year for 20 years (an estimated total of €70m) from the start of construction.

Local communities will decide where and how to distribute these funds so that they have the most impact across Connemara and beyond. This significant financial support could have a transformative effect, providing opportunities for young people in particular to gain skills and new avenues of employment in their local communities.

[By way of comparison, the onshore windfarm Galway Wind Park currently manages one of Ireland’s largest community benefit funds relating to a wind energy project. It distributes €400k per year.]

Skills and Investment

Large scale projects such as Sceirde Rocks stimulate economic investment, skills and training and job creation over the longer term, either directly or indirectly, through supply chain and infrastructure development. Ours is one project amongst many which, taken together, will require a significant transformation in Ireland’s energy economy and a new, highly-skilled workforce to support it.

Ireland has a long-term target of 37GW of installed offshore wind by 2050. This presents the challenge of meeting the growing need to train Irish workers to meet the demands of the offshore wind industry. In October 2024, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science published an Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan* that recommends the Irish Government collaborates closely with the Irish Offshore Wind Industry and relevant third-party course providers to ensure the skills are available in Ireland to support the delivery of projects. Through the consenting, design & engineering phase and construction phase we intend to support the establishment of an indigenous Irish skills base and will support education facilities to deliver suitable course to train people with the appropriate skills for the offshore wind industry.

Powering prosperity – Irelands Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy** that was published in March 2024 sets out a pathway to deliver economic benefit for all of Ireland. This is the first iteration of the strategy focusing on the period to 2026 but with a view to 2030 and it identifies the delivery up to 5,000 jobs in the offshore wind sector and related industries.

While it is too early in our project’s lifespan to quantify this impact in detail, Connemara has an opportunity through our project to be part of that transformation and the benefits it will bring. In anticipation of this opportunity, Sceirde Rocks Windfarm has signed an MoU with Údarás na Gaeltachta to collaborate on:

  • Establishing and supporting education and training initiatives within the Gaeltacht region to provide a skilled workforce to support the deployment of offshore wind projects;
  • Investigating the roles and responsibilities of the ORESS1 Community Benefit Fund administrator;
  • Jointly and collectively pursuing the delivery of an operations and maintenance base for the project at Ros An Mhíl in the Connemara Gaeltacht.

Sceirde Rocks Windfarm is also a participating member of Ireland’s Centre of Vocational Excellence for Offshore Wind, an EU-wide industry initiative to establish strong links between businesses and training providers and support the delivery of the hands-on training and technical expertise needed to succeed in the industry.

Notes:
* gov.ie – Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan 2024
** gov.ie – Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy (www.gov.ie)

Why can’t the windfarm be further out to sea?

Fixed-bottom wind turbines can currently be installed up to a maximum seabed depth of about 60m.

The seabed in this area of the west coast falls away rapidly approximately 12 km from shore, making it impossible to build a fixed-bottom windfarm any further out to sea.

Will the windfarm impact wildlife and the natural environment? How will you manage that?

The site of the windfarm has been selected in order to avoid environmentally sensitive areas including Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs).

A wide range of environmental surveys, assessments and reports covering aspects such as birds and marine mammals, fisheries, visuals, benthic, fish and shellfish, navigation, and other environmental factors is comprehensively covered in an Environmental Impact Assessment Report and Natura Impact Statement that we submitted as part of the Sceirde Rocks Windfarm planning application to An Bord Pleanála in early 2025. These reports set out how we plan to mitigate any potential effects to ensure that the project does not have a significant negative impact on the environment and the people who live there.

All of this information will be publicly available on the An Bord Pleanála website at the time of submission.

How will the windfarm impact local industries such as fishing and tourism?

It is imperative that different users of the sea work together and we are committed to being a responsible partner to other industries. We have engaged extensively with local fishers, sharing information and data and managing our surveying work with their input, and building a positive and collaborative relationship.

On tourism, business can be reassured by the fact that multiple studies carried out across the EU have reported no link between the presence of offshore windfarms and any negative impacts on tourism, and that in some cases the impact of offshore wind farms on tourism can in fact be positive*. The amenity facilities at Mountlucas onshore windfarm in Co Offaly, for example, receives tens of thousands of visitors every year**.

Notes:
* tourism-impact-of-offshore-wind-farms—final-report—-jg-300921.pdf (vattenfall.com)
** The Project | Mountlucas Wind Farm