Orsted explains how area is chosen for Isle of Man windfarm
Orsted explains how area is chosen for Isle of Man windfarm
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00:00If you look at the maps that you've got on display as part of this project, you will see there's quite a lot of offshore wind farm activity projects happening off the east coast of the island, but off of the north of Wales, the west of England, nothing of the south, nothing of the west. Is there a particular reason for that?
00:27A couple of reasons, and most of them are fairly straightforward. You've got your water depths and your ground conditions, so on the east side of the island towards the UK and towards Wales, they are very good.
00:43We have got good wind conditions because we know the Irish Sea is effectively a tunnel, a wind tunnel, and particularly coming up from Anglesey and in that southwest direction up towards the northeast, that is a particular area for good resource.
00:57So when you actually look at the maps of offshore wind farms, you will notice quite a straight line of where the projects are positioned. It's facing into the predominant wind direction, quite significantly a predominant wind direction.
01:11And the other impact, so for example looking at the east coast of the island for us, although the area was chosen by the government for us, one particular thing is wave direction.
01:22So when you think about installing these monopile foundations that we will install that will hold up for 35 years plus, we have to model and make sure that they are going to last the course, and it's just a matter of fact that the wave conditions on the east coast are effectively protected from the location of the island, so you see much wilder weather if you like on the west coast.
01:43I think the south and west you are going to see in the decades to come, more conversations about what can be done in offshore wind there. We see it in Ireland with the plans that they are proposing. Of course you are looking at the areas which you can develop quickest and easiest first, and those are the areas you can use fixed bottom projects as they are called.
02:00But I don't think there are going to be parts of the sea around the Irish Sea that are not going to be considered in the coming decades for future offshore wind, whatever technology can be installed.
02:11Interesting, so there is no specific reason why it can't happen, it's just slightly easier possibly to do off the east coast to start with?
02:19Yeah, I think that is the answer. It's understandably been part of the Isle of Man's energy strategy to look at the natural resources we've got, and the reality is the wind is good everywhere in the island, we know that, and particularly in the territorial sea, but I think certainly when you look round to the west coast it will be a bit more challenging in terms of the type of foundation you will use.
02:39There is a reason Douglas Harbour is where it is, it's on the east coast. There are reasons why you see what we see, and that is historic because of the weather conditions over the centuries, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that it is where it is inside the 12 mile limit on the east coast, and luckily out of the way of some of the things like the lifeline routes.