Cessair Wind Árainn
One of Muichumhacht SEAPOWER three large-scale floating offshore wind generation projects. Cessair Wind Árainn is a sustainable energy partnership bewteen Comharchumann Fuinnimh Árainn Teo (CFOAT – Aran Island Energy Co-operative) and Muirchumhmacht SEAPOWER. The project aims to install 2GW of floating offshore wind 20km off the coast of the Aran Islands. The award winning local sustainability co-operative CFOAT is the key community partner in the project. The expected benefits include significant reductions in carbon emissions, job creation, and economic growth for local communities. The project is a wind to hydrogen project which will be designed to have minimal environmental impacts on the islands. The hydrogen will be exported via subsea pipeline to the national grid and onwards to heavy industrial users of energy in the EU.
Partners:
Energy Co-operative Ireland Ltd
and
Comharchumann Fuinnimh Árainn Teo
Location
20 kms West of The Aran Islands
Status
MARA Application awaiting DMAP
Community Benefits
Árainn has a long history of fishing and sailing. There are many local people involved currently in marine engineering around the world. As these projects are community partnerships, we have a strategic emphasis on maximising community benefits.
Employment opportunities will be available to the entire coastal community. International figures suggest that a 2GW offshore project could employ up more than 4000 people directly [1]. Indirect service jobs such as accommodation would be approximately an additional 4000 people.
[1] From https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338118482_Wind_Power_and_Job_Creation
Environmental Integrity
Our sustainability ethos is core to our ambitions. We will guarantee that the impact of our project on the biodiversity and ecology of the region will be minimised. Our projects will be assessed by independent experts to ensure that all best practices are followed.
Community Partnership
The project is jointly owned by the local community along with its technical and financial partners. The community will leverage the financial benefits from the project to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals: meeting the aim of making the islands entirely carbon neutral.
Environmental Impact
The array will generate very large amounts of energy. Existing floating Cessair Wind Árainn project aims to deploy 10MW turbines in a 10 X 10 array with a total output of 2000 MW. It is expected that this will produce approximately 8,760,000 MWh of electrical energy per year. The project will aim to produce hydrogen for export via undersea pipeline to nearby gas injection points on the mainland. This approach will have the least impacts visually and ecologically. The contribution to reducing global warming by replacing Natural Gas will be very considerable.
The project will be designed in partnership with all the local community: the fishing and tourism industries especially. This collaboration will help minimize negative impacts and maximize benefits.
Economic Growth
These projects are expected to generate significant economic growth by creating thousands of jobs during both the construction and operational phases. Local businesses will benefit from increased demand for services and products, fostering a thriving community economy. Upwards of 8,000 people could be employed directly and indirectly as part of the project.
The projects will involve an initial investment of many billions of euro in the development phase going towards jobs and infrastructure improvements (for the ports and gas grid).
Project Timeline
Our journey towards sustainable energy solutions is marked by key milestones and phases of development. Here is a detailed timeline of our projects.
2020
Project Scoping
Suitable sites around Valentia were assessed for fishing, marine traffic, protected species impacts: no serious economic or ecological obstacles were identified for the chosen site
2022
Community Partnership
The Cessair Wind Árainn project was intiated a s a partnership bewteen Energy Co-operatives Ireland Ltd and Comharchumann Fuinnimh Árainn Teo
2023
MARA Application
Muirchumhact Applies to MARA with initial proposals
2024
DMAPs Published
Cessair Wind Árainn engages with the new DMAP process.
Designated Marine Area Plans (DMAPs) [1]
2024
Partnership Development
Muirchumhacht has potential identified technical and financial partners which pending successful partnership negotiations will play a driving role in its development on receipt of new West Coast DMAPs that include the site
[1] DMAP is a process whereby the state indicates in which areas it wishes to receive applications to develop marine projects. At present only the East and South Coasts are are open to development applications meaning that at present more than 90% of our marine resources are not open to being developed.
Media and Community Comment
West coast islands to join forces to generate offshore wind energy
Island communities off the west coast are to join forces with a view to generating offshore wind energy tied into hydrogen fuel production through a new network of local energy co-ops.
Clean Hydrogen Partnership funding Valentia H2orizon study
Brussels-based Clean Hydrogen Partnership has picked Valentia Island in County Kerry to receive support to explore clean energy solutions that will help Ireland on its path to net zero.
Clean Hydrogen Partnership will fund the H2orizon study, by consultants, to explore the role of hydrogen in decarbonising energy on Valentia Island, especially around maritime use.
Valentia Island selected for European hydrogen project.
“Other governments around the world recognise the opportunities hydrogen can bring and are developing strategies to develop green hydrogen.
“The recently published Climate Action Plan 2023 included specific actions to enable the use of hydrogen across industry, enterprise and transport. However, we need more clarity at national level on what our strategy is.”
Colum O’Connell, Valentia Island Energy Co-op.