Leading geo-data specialist Fugro has secured a two-year environmental services contract to deliver long term marine mammal monitoring along Ireland’s south coast.
The work will support Ireland’s state owned electricity transmission operator EirGrid with its ‘Powering Up Offshore – South Coast’ programme. This is delivering the electricity infrastructure needed to connect future offshore wind farms to the national grid and marks the first commercial deployment of Fugro’s purpose built mooring system.
Once it is complete, the Powering Up Offshore – South Coast programme is expected to connect approximately 900MW of renewable electricity, enough to power almost one million homes, making a significant contribution to Ireland’s energy security and climate ambitions.
Robert Fennelly, senior ecologist at EirGrid, commented: “A robust ecological study is a fundamental part of how offshore renewable energy projects are responsibly developed. Long-term monitoring helps us build a clear, evidence-based understanding of the marine environment we operate in.”
Under its contract, Fugro will install and maintain a network of eight static, silent seabed moorings. These are securely anchored monitoring units on the seafloor fitted with underwater acoustic sensors to detect and record the presence and activity of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). Designed and built by Fugro, the moorings will help establish an environmental baseline and track seasonal and longer-term changes in activity, including those of harbour porpoises known to visit the area.
Fugro will regularly recover and analyse the data, providing EirGrid with clear summary updates on cetacean activity, alongside annual reports on species presence and distribution across the site. The resulting dataset will support environmental assessment, regulatory engagement and future comparative surveys as offshore development progresses.
Robert Fennelly added: “The insights we gain from this work are essential to informing project design, supporting regulatory processes, and ensuring that we minimise potential impacts while delivering critical infrastructure.
“EirGrid is committed to integrating high-quality environmental data into all stages of our offshore programmes as we work to enable Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon energy future.”
Andy Addleton, Fugro’s environmental service line manager for Europe and Africa, added: “For projects of this scale, having the right environmental information at the right time is critical.
“Long‑term monitoring enables a deeper understanding of marine mammal presence, helping EirGrid make informed decisions as offshore infrastructure plans progress.” This contract builds on Fugro’s existing seven‑year framework agreement with EirGrid and supports the responsible development of offshore renewable energy infrastructure
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