1. Geological Considerations for Offshore Windfarm Development A.Wheeler 1, M. McGrath 1, M. Coughlan 1,3, B. Dorschel 1,2 1 ERI & School of Biological Earth & Environmental Sciences 2 Alfred Wegener, Institute, Bremenhaven, Germany 3 Department of Marine Engineering Geology, MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany

2. Ireland’s offshore renewable energy potential Wind Mean wind speed at 50 m

3. Ireland’s offshore renewable energy potential Wave Annual average wave height

4. Ireland’s offshore renewable energy potential Tidal Energy

5. Geological controls of renewable energy infrastructure To build wind farms you need foundation solutions

6. To build tidal energy farms you need to understand energy regimes and sediment dynamics Geological controls of renewable energy infrastructure

7. Understanding sediment dynamics in the Irish Sea – partnership with Gaelectric Developments Ltd

10. Recent projects and developments CeSQuORE - Celtic Sea Sedimentary Processes, Quaternary Stratigraphy & Offshore Renewable Energy Development ISSITEG - Appraisal of the Irish Sea Seabed Imaging for Tidal Energy Generation MARUM partnership – North Sea windfarm developments

11. CeSQuORE

14. ISSITEG

16. Defining signatures for benthic currents > 2m s -1 ISSITEG

18. North Sea – MARUM partnership Area 1 Area 2

19. Area 1 East-west valley Intersecting southern valley Eastern meander system

20. Calcareous silty clay Shell rich organic mud with clay and peat clay Clays,silts and sands, some stiff Core 1Core 2Core 3

21. Site 1Site 2Site 3

22. What’s the big idea To site wind farms we need to understand the sub- seabed constraints Depth to bedrock and stratigraphies Hydrodynamics and scour potential Sub-seabed geotechnical properties

23. What’s the big idea To determine sub-seabed properties Drill and collect physical samples Do in-situ measures e.g. CPT

24. What’s the big idea What is driving the systems that produce these stratigraphies? Process and palaeoenvironmental succession that determines the physical properties Sediment physical properties –> geotechnics is easy -> predict and interpolate geotechnics We want to put the Geology back in Engineering Geology