Mr. Glenn Carr:

Yes, this is for the fixed-bottom approach. There is a lot of debate about floating turbines, but it is not possible to design something to handle floating equipment at the moment because the industry is so diverse in what it believes is needed. For the fixed-bottom method, in the Irish and Celtic seas, we know we have the right depth. This is a requirement. Out of the 7 GW being sought, and depending on how the projects are aligned, our facility would probably create 2.5 GW of the required turbines. We are talking about a lot of land being needed when these turbine blades are at least 120 m in length. These are big machines and they require land for construction. From our point of view, therefore, I am quite happy that we have the right product. Having said that, however, we must get through the planning process and get our foreshore licence in May.

There is industry growth worldwide in this area now. For example, regarding doing site surveys and booking barges to do this, these craft are in demand throughout Europe. This is the case to the extent that it is necessary to provide assurances to the owners that a foreshore licence has been secured and that these barges will be used in three-week windows. All this must be booked in advance. Irish Rail and our board have been greatly supportive in pushing us to take on risk. We must do so now, but it is managed risk. We are fully committed to taking our project up to the stage of applying for full planning permission. It will probably cost us €10 million to just go through this planning process, but we need to develop this project by the end of 2026.