Oriel Wind Farm is a proposed

offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...

in the northwestern

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. The project is associated with Oriel Windfarm Limited, a privately owned Irish

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

company. According to a 2007 press release, the proposed farm is due to be located near

Clogherhead Clogherhead () is a fishing village in County Louth, Ireland. Located in a natural bay on the east coast it is bordered by the villages of Annagassan to the north and Termonfeckin to the south. It has a population of 2,145 according to the 2 ...

, approximately southeast of

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, and approximately northeast of

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

. The farm takes its name from the ancient

Kingdom of Oriel Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

Environmental impact

Detailed surveys and studies of the

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

, and human environment at the proposed wind farm site have been carried out since 2003. These included

geotechnical Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It al ...

assessments of the area and surveys of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s flying above the site.

Construction

In 2007, the proposed developers suggested that if permission was obtained, "construction could commence as early as Autumn 2009". However, as of 2014, the project was on hold pending talks between the Irish and UK governments on exporting the electricity to the UK. In July 2015, the companies Oriel Windfarm and Gaelectric announced a proposed co-development of a 15MW demonstration project, to potentially include the development of a research and development hub for offshore energy. The two companies suggested that the project, termed the North Irish Sea Array, had the potential to produce 870MW of electricity.

Output

If completed as per the 2007 proposals, the wind farm would reportedly be capable of generating up to 330

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

s of electricity. The generated electricity could be fed into the Irish national electrical grid, with some of the output exported via interconnector to the UK and European energy markets.

References

{{reflist Wind farms in the Republic of Ireland Offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea Proposed wind farms Proposed renewable energy power stations in the Republic of Ireland