Quake fails to rock offshore windfarm

December 2005

AN EARTHQUAKE that rocked the east coast of Wicklow in the early hours of Wednesday left Arklow’s offshore windfarm unscathed.

Tremors from the quake, which measured 2.8 on the Richter Scale, were felt in Arklow, 40 miles from its epicentre, at around 3.30 a.m. yesterday with several people woken from their beds by what was described as a ‘ loud bang’ or ‘explosion’.

Paintings were knocked off the walls in some houses, but when GE Wind Energy carried out their routine checks of the windfarm they reported that all seven turbines were working fine.

The quake occurred in the Irish Sea just off Bray Head and Tom Blake, experimental officer with the Geophysics Department of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies says earthquakes in the area ‘are not unusual’.

‘ This is actually not a rare occurrence. Earthquakes happen quite frequently but are not large enough to be felt,’ he said.