December 18, 2021
Isle of Man

Wind farms could affect ferry sailings

By Gemma Nettle | 18 December 2021 | www.iomtoday.co.im

Two wind farms proposed for the Irish Sea will affect Steam Packet sailings.

BP and German firm Energie Baden-Württemberg’s wind farms, Morgan and Mona, would be in the path of the Steam Packet Company’s routes to Liverpool and Heysham.

When complete, the two wind farms will have sufficient electricity to power 3.4 million homes across the UK.

Managing director at the Steam Packet Company, Brian Thomson, was worried about the effect it would have on its routes.

He told Manx Radio: ’It’ll affect us massively. Our vessels will have to go around them or go through them,and it will affect our supply lines, it’ll add extra time to the journey, it wouldn’t stop the journey but we’ll have to go a longer route.

’That’s really not helpful for anyone.’

Mr Thomson was hopeful it wouldn’t lead to higher passenger fares on either of its vessels but was concerned about the impact on the environment.

’The other thing it could mean is more emissions from us as well if we have to steam for longer so that’s counter productive to that green agenda,’ he continued.

An ongoing consultation is open between the two firms and the company which Mr Thomson felt this was important going forward.

He added: ’Those routes are the lifeline for the island, I think they’re obliged to listen to us.

’Because we’re a small island and a small company, perhaps we don’t have as big a voice but the other companies who run ferries out of Liverpool will be affected by this potentially as well, so we have to be a collective and we have to consult with the builder.

’I think it’s BP who hold the contract, we need to make sure they understand the implications of what they want to do.

’There are other sites and they can change the configuration of the wind farms perhaps.

’As it looks like now, it would be really bad for the island.’

The wind farms are located approximately 30km from the UK coast with a combined area of approximately 800 km² and they are meant to help achieve the UK’s ambition of generating 40GW of power from offshore wind by 2030. Morgan and Mona are set to be one of the largest wind farms in the world.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/12/18/wind-farms-could-affect-ferry-sailings/