When Ireland’s first offshore wind farm, Arklow Bank 1, entered service in 2004, you would have got very long odds on it being the nation’s sole project two decades later, but policy inaction since then means its 25MW of turbines are still the only ones turning off its coasts.
Arno Verbeek — the veteran industry executive who led development of Arklow Bank 1 and is now back in Irish offshore wind — describes the 20 lost years as “amazing to think about” and a “huge, missed opportunity” for a nation blessed with some of Europe’s best waters for wind at sea.
