7th March 2014
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Cork could become a hub for the maintenance of wind turbines.
At an Ireland-France Chamber of Commerce presentation in Cork – attended by the French Ambassador – the French Multinational Alstom identified Cork as an “ideal area” for offshore turbines in the future.
At the moment maintenance crews would travel to a FIXED offshore turbine and a nearby port would benefit slightly,
but the renewable industry is now developing FLOATING offshore turbines, which would towed into a port – such as Cork – to be maintained, something that would benefit the region economically.
Niall Gleeson, Managing Director of Alsrom says FLOATING turbines are still a few years away, but in the long term Cork would be an “ideal location” and development of the technology is still about 15 years away
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