North Channel Wind End of Year Bulletin 2024

The North Channel Wind team has been active on many fronts over the past year. Our proposals for Northern Ireland’s first offshore wind farm, off the east coast of County Antrim and North Down coast, could potentially add more than 1 Gigawatt of electrical capacity to the grid. This could be the game changer Northern Ireland needs, delivering on energy security, carbon budgets, positive net environmental gain and economic opportunities.

The Northern Ireland Executive has committed to 1 Gigawatt of offshore wind in DfE’s Energy Strategy Action Plan and draft Offshore Renewable Energy Action Plan (OREAP). Delivery requires collaboration from multiple partners, across government and beyond, and keeping to schedule is essential to deliver this vision and maintain investor confidence. Progress is being made. For example, the need for more resources in DAERA to assess these complex applications has been acknowledged. Addressing this is crucial to ensure a robust yet timely consenting process.

The Crown Estate and DfE continue to work together, having published in January 2023 a Statement of Intent to deliver a leasing round for offshore wind in Northern Ireland. However, the pre-requisite consultation on the Strategic Environmental Assessment for offshore renewables is nearly a year behind schedule. Our New Year’s wish is to see this consultation published in January 2025, followed by a re-energised and time-bound OREAP which will see all partners working together to ensure the huge benefits of offshore wind in Northern Ireland are realised as soon as possible.

2024 highlights

Stormont encounters

  • In September the North Channel Wind team partnered with RenewableNI to help drive the messages home to MLAs. More than 120 people including several MLAs attended our ‘Clean Revolution’ event in Stormont’s magnificent Long Gallery, hosted by the Alliance Party’s Peter McReynolds.
  • In the same month we presented to the AERA Committee and underlined some of the challenges we faced when engaging with government. This was a very well received encounter which sparked intense conversation about the project and how best it could be assisted.
  • Team members Niamh Kenny, Fiona Stevens and Andy McCrea have met with numerous MLAs during 2024 to press home the messages.
The North Channel Wind team in Stormont's Long Gallery for the Clean Revolution


Engagements

  • Project Director Niamh Kenny has continued to chair RenewableNI’s Offshore Committee and has addressed Northern Ireland’s two premier energy conferences this year: The NI Energy Forum in September and Smart Energy in October. These were well attended and the presence of senior civil servants from the key departments is always welcome.
  • North Channel Wind was delighted to sponsor the Royal Yachting Association Northern Ireland’s 50th Anniversary Celebration dinner in October
North Channel Wind Project Director Niamh Kenny addresses the Smart Energy Conference in October


Visit to Provence Grand Large

In June, North Channel Wind coordinated a fascinating visit for energy representatives from across Northern Ireland to see France’s first floating offshore wind turbines at Provence Grand Large. The floating platforms were designed, built and installed by our parent company SBM Offshore. The North Channel’s enviable wind and wave climate make it ideally suited for floating wind turbine technology.

Visitors photograph floating turbines at Provence Grand Large, off the coast of Marseille


Environment

February saw the submission to DAERA and DfI of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Reports for North Channel Wind, led by our Environment and Consenting Manager, Clodagh McGrath. A Scoping Opinion, which will draw together consultation responses from a host of statutory and non-statutory organisations, is expected in early 2025.

In addition, September saw the conclusion of our two-year digital aerial bird and mammal surveys, which will also help inform our EIA.

Economic and supply chain opportunity

An exciting new cluster - Northern Ireland Maritime and Offshore (NIMO) – was launched in April. NIMO aims to position Northern Ireland as a leading maritime and offshore region in the UK and Europe, driving local economic expansion and opportunity. North Channel Wind is a founder member of NIMO and Stakeholder Manager Fiona Stevens is a board member. NIMO membership has already reached over 50 businesses, demonstrating the strong supply chain interest, and has recently been awarded £100,000 by the UK Department for Transport Cluster Development Fund to enable further development. We look forward to seeing NIMO go from strength to strength in 2025.

HRH The Princess Royal meets North Channel Wind's Niamh Kenny at the NIMO launch, along with Sam McCloskey of Simply Blue and Michael Robinson of Belfast Harbour


Stakeholder engagement

Engagement with the fishing industry continued throughout 2024, ably assisted by SeaSource Offshore who provide our Fisheries Liaison. We hosted a session for numerous environmental groups to share and discuss results from our first year of bird and mammal surveys in March this year. Engagement with these important stakeholder groups will continue in 2025, looking at ways to work together to help shape the project going forward to ensure sustainable benefits to nature and coastal communities.

We look forward to continuing to engage with all our stakeholders in 2025 as we continue to drive the clean energy revolution and secure this golden opportunity for Northern Ireland.

Get in touch

If you have any questions we would love to hear from you.

Niamh Kenny, Project Director: Niamh.kenny@northchannelwind.com

Fiona Stevens, Stakeholder Manager: Fiona.stevens@northchannelwind.com

www.northchannelwind.com