Shell has struck another deal with Simply Blue Group to acquire a majority share in one of the Irish blue economy developer’s floating wind ventures. The Anglo-Dutch supermajor will buy a 51% share of the Western Star venture, which was set up to develop a floating wind farm off the Clare coast in Ireland.
This follows a similar agreement earlier this year to jointly develop the Emerald floating wind project off the south coast of Ireland.
The Western Star joint venture will be developed by Simply Blue personnel and Shell floating wind experts, with the project office based at Simply Blue headquarters in Cork. The joint venture will seek to co-develop up to 1.35 GW in total: 300 MW – 450 MW in the first phase, with 700 MW – 900 MW to follow.
Shell said the first phase of the project could include between 15 MW and 18 MW turbines. The company added that the assembly, installation and deployment of these turbines could stimulate hundreds of jobs in the local supply chain, while long-term operations and maintenance of the turbines will also require local skills and services to support this industry.
