Blue Gem Wind, the joint venture between Total, one of the world’s largest energy companies, and Simply Blue Energy, a Celtic Sea sustainable blue economy developer has received planning consent to install a temporary met mast on the Angle Peninsula.

The met mast, due to be deployed in early March, will be sighted on the old airfield, 0.5 km inland of East Pickard Bay, for a duration of 15 months.

David Jones, Stakeholder Manager, said,

“The met mast will provide wind speed and other weather related data so we can better understand the wind resource of the Celtic Sea. This important data will enable us to optimise the design of potential offshore floating wind projects in the region. Once the data has been collected the mast will be removed.”

The met mast and onshore monitoring equipment is provided by local supplier Solar Wheel and is an essential part of understanding the wind resource in the Celtic Sea. Lucy Bywaters, Project Manager at Solar Wheel

“As a small family-run company from Brechfa, Carmarthenshire, we are delighted to be working with Blue Gem Wind. We have been delivering wind data solutions since 1990 and look forward to providing information that could help progress Wales’ first floating offshore wind projects.”

Independent studies suggest that there is between 15-50 GW of floating offshore wind capacity that could be developed in the Celtic Sea making the area and floating wind technology, a key tool in climate change mitigation. Blue Gem Wind is focussed on developing floating wind in the Celtic Sea using a stepping stone approach. The first proposed project, Erebus, will provide enough green energy for approximately 90,000 homes per year.