SSE Renewables will advance an upscaled 800MW extension to Arklow Bank, Ireland’s only operating offshore wind farm, under new maritime planning regulations unveiled by the nation’s government this week.
The utility will seek to progress Arklow Bank 2 under the new Maritime Area Consent (MAC) regime with a view to delivering the €2.5bn ($2.74bn) project into service by 2028.
That would be three years later than previously envisaged under the old Foreshore Act, but SSE said moving to the new system would allow it to “revise the project and substantially increase the power generation output from the site to 800MW.
