Consultation on Galway Bay test site extended to Friday 9 September
The public consultation period for the Marine Institute’s foreshore lease application to upgrade the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site has been extended until 9th September 2016.
The decision by the Minister, Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, to further extend the consultation was announced today, Tuesday 02 August.
The extension follows a public meeting which took place Thursday 21 July in the Connemara Coast Hotel, during which some participants requested more time to allow informed submissions on the lease application. The meeting was the third public meeting held as part of the consultation to ensure full information is provided on the Marine Institute’s foreshore lease application to upgrade test and demonstration facilities at the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site. The Marine Institute and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland provided information on the background to the lease application and the scope of the proposed upgrade and addressed questions raised by the public during the consultation process.
The Marine Institute applied in April to the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for a foreshore lease for the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test site where prototype marine renewable energy technology can be tested at reduced scale to determine viability in an ocean environment.
A copy of the application, and the relevant maps, plans, reports and drawings are available to download from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’s website.
Copies of these documents are also available for viewing at
- Salthill Garda Station, Salthill,
- Public Library, An Spidéal, Co. na Gallaimhe and
- Comhlacht Forbartha An Spidéal Teo, An Spidéal., Galway
until 5pm 9th September 2016.
A bilingual information sheet is also available.
The Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test Site has been in operation since 2006 when it was established by the Marine Institute and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. The purpose of the site is to allow technology innovators to test the viability of small scale prototypes in an ocean environment.
The lease application outlines plans to upgrade the existing infrastructure and facilitate the deployment of a wider range of marine renewable energy devices and novel sensor technologies at the Galway Bay Marine and Renewable Energy Test site.
The lease application does not propose any change the location, area or size of the existing site.
The lease proposes to allow a wider range of devices to be tested which would potentially include floating wind turbines. Under the lease application only one floating wind device could be tested on the site at any one time with a maximum of three unique renewable marine energy devices on site at any one time.
Anyone who wishes to make a submission on the lease applications should do so in writing, giving reasons, no later than 5pm 09 September (quoting ref: FS 006566), to the Foreshore Unit, Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Newtown Road, Wexford or foreshore@housing.gov.ie.
The Marine has held three public meetings to date and during the extension period, will meet with individuals who have concerns or queries that they wish to address before the final deadline for submissions.
Should you have any questions for the Marine Institute on the proposed lease application, or would like to arrange a meeting with the Institute please contact us by email at: testsite.consultation@marine.ie
All submissions received to date will be considered as part of the assessment process. If you have already submitted observations and wish to submit further observations in light of the new deadline, all submissions received by Friday 9th September will be considered.