Fugro debuts new mooring system on Irish cetacean monitoring contract
Ireland's national grid operator has contracted Fugro for a two-year passive acoustic monitoring programme along the south coast. This project marks the first operational deployment of Fugro's purpose-built mooring system.
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.
The activities will support the subsea cable infrastructure underpinning EirGrid's Powering Up Offshore initiative. When complete, the programme is projected to deliver around 900MW of offshore wind capacity to the national grid, enough to supply nearly one million homes and advancing Ireland's broader decarbonization goals.
"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,” said Robert Fennelly, senior ecologist at EirGrid.
Long-term baseline
Regular data recovery and analysis will keep EirGrid informed through concise cetacean activity updates and annual reports on species presence and distribution. Beyond immediate compliance, the dataset will serve as a long-term baseline for environmental assessment, regulatory engagement and comparative surveys as the wider offshore programme advances.
“The insights we gain from this work are essential to informing project design, supporting regulatory processes, and ensuring that we minimize potential impacts while delivering critical infrastructure,” added Fennelly. “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, said, “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.”
