Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are very aware of the need for physical infrastructure. We have outlined in the strategy that will be a demonstrator site as well as an offshore wind centre of excellence. There are three marine test centres currently in Ireland, namely the Lir National Ocean Test Facility in Cork, the SmartBay Test Site for marine and renewable energy in Galway and the Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site, which is currently under development in our own county of Mayo. We will put the business case in place for a demonstrator site that will include: the deployment of pre-commercial or commercial floating offshore wind technologies; an assessment of the performance of floating offshore wind, including in the context of the financial and technical performance necessary to facilitate operations in Irish conditions; seeking to understand the installation, operation and maintenance of floating offshore facilities specifically in Irish waters; and procuring the complementary technologies relating to digital, including remote monitoring and other technologies. All of the latter will be specific to the conditions that obtain in Irish waters and to the facilities we already have.

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