What's your view of proposals for a €1bn Irish Sea wind farm?

Giant wind turbines could be visible from the east Meath and Louth coastlines if a plan for a €1billion Irish Sea wind farm gets approval.

Norwegian state-owned renewable energy developer Statkraft is progressing plans for the major project that would stretch from North Dublin to Co Louth.

It has just begun a detailed consultation phase on the 500 megwatt North Irish Sea Array project. According to a report in yesterday's Sunday independent, it is aiming to submit a planning application within the next 12 months for a project with up to 30 250 metre-tall (800 feet) turbines that will be visible from the Dublin, Meath and Louth coastline.

Statkraft Managing Director Kevin O’Donovan said that over the space of this year they will be consulting with coastal communities about the plan. “We identified this as a really good location for an offshore project. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do in terms of engagement with the local community and in terms of site assessments. We secured grid capacity for a connection to a project in the area and the assessment work that we’ve been doing and which is ongoing is to identify seabed conditions, environmental restrictions, fishing and other marine activities to design a layout that fits within all of that”.

The proposed wind farm will be 13-20km off the coast where the water is still shallow enough to fit the turbines to the seabed. It will consist of three separate groups of turbines running from Skerries, Co Dublin, along the seven miles of Meath coastline, to as far as Clogherhead. They will be visible from as far south as Howth , according to Statkraft photo montages.

Mr O’Donovan said that they would be visible but that the company was working on a design that would “actually fit in with seascape and be a feature of the landscape rather than dominating it”.

Offshore wind farms typically cost €2m per megawatt but he hoped the cost could be brought down by using new turbine technology.

Publication by the Government of the new Marine Planning and Development Management bill which will enable offshore projects to apply under the strategic infrastructure development framework to An Bord Pleanala would also be crucial to the project, he said.

He said that if that legislation was not passed they were not going to make any progress on these offshore projects.

A key aspect of the proposed project was its proximity to the Dublin electricity market, he said.