page_title: Irish Sea
section_title: Wind power
hierarchical_section_title: Irish Sea / Wind power
caption_attribution_description: Offshore wind turbines at Barrow Offshore Wind off Walney Island in the Irish Sea Unusually good weather for April!
context_page_description: The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain; linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Channel, also known as the Straits of Moyle.
  Anglesey, Wales, is the largest island in the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man. The term Manx Sea may occasionally be used..
  The countries that are on its shoreline are Scotland on the north, England on the east, Wales on the southeast, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on the west. The Irish Sea is of significant economic importance to regional trade, shipping and transport, as well as fishing and power generation in the form of wind power and nuclear power plants. Annual traffic between Great Britain and Ireland amounts to over 12 million passengers and 17 million tonnes of traded goods.
context_section_description: An offshore wind farm was developed on the Arklow Bank, Arklow Bank Wind Park, about 10 km (6.2 mi) off the coast of County Wicklow in the south Irish Sea. The site currently has seven GE 3.6 MW turbines, each with 104-metre (341 ft) diameter rotors, the world's first commercial application of offshore wind turbines over three megawatts in size. The operating company, Airtricity, has indefinite plans for nearly 100 further turbines on the site.
  Further wind turbine sites include:
  The North Hoyle site 8 kilometres (5 mi) off the coast from Rhyl and Prestatyn in North Wales, containing thirty 2 MW turbines. operated by NPower Renewables
  Burbo Bank site 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) off the north Wirral coast
  Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the Solway Firth
  Thirty 90-metre (300 ft) 3 MW turbines are operating in a wind farm 7 km (4.3 mi) the coast of Walney Island.
  Turbines are being erected off the coast of Clogherhead (to be called the Oriel Wind Farm)
  The Warmley Extension 9 miles (14 km) west of Walney Island off the coast of Cumbria. As of 2018, it is the largest on Earth.
caption: Barrow Offshore windfarm, off Walney Island
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