Boats in the bay near Spiddal

Discodog · 07-05-2015 9:18pm #1

There's a boat with, what looks like a crane on the back, in the bay near Spiddal. It's been there for a while & there are a couple of boats with it.

Does anyone know what they are doing?

nala2012 · 07-05-2015 9:32pm

putting a cable down for a wavebob!

thesandeman · 08-05-2015 7:11am

nala2012 wrote: »

putting a cable down for a wavebob!

Don't call him Bob!

Discodog · 08-05-2015 7:14am

Seems to be taking a while. It's been there for over a week.

joeKel73 · 08-05-2015 7:42am

There is a designated quarter scale wave energy test site just off Spiddal. They're laying a new power and data cable to the site...

http://www.marine.ie/Home/site-area/infrastructure-facilities/ocean-energy/galway-bay-test-site-0

The 4km cable is being installed in April 2015 using the Marine Institute’s research vessel the R.V. Celtic Explorer and will come ashore at Spiddal Pier. Researchers will bring their marine instruments and sensors to the test site. These will be plugged into dedicated science ports on either the subsea test platform or the floating sea station platform, depending on their research needs. The subsea test and monitoring platform will be deployed in summer 2015. Detailed technical descriptions are available at the following link. The ‘Sea Station’ is a floating research platform. It will be approximately 50m2 and will be deployed at the test site later in 2015. The Sea Station will provide a safe and stable research environment for scientists and engineers who need to work at the test site. It will also facilitate communications with wave energy prototypes and will act as a simulated grid connection.