Proposed New FIDIC Contract For Offshore Wind Projects

• Published date: 01 April 2024
• Law Firm: William Fry
• Author: Ms Cassandra Byrne, Jarleth Heneghan and Liam McCabe

FIDIC are developing a new standard form contract for offshore wind projects. What do you need to know?

Ireland's offshore renewable energy (ORE) targets are ambitious. Harnessing our powerful wind resource offshore, the Irish Government is charting a path towards achieving Ireland's and Europe's targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050 for grid-connected and non-grid connected offshore wind, energy security and net carbon zero through various measures and policies. Construction industry capacity will need to grow significantly to meet these targets. While there has been much focus to date on the planning aspects of delivering Ireland's ORE regime, the form of construction contract best suited to deliver on this needs to be considered.

FIDIC recently announced it was developing a new contract for offshore wind projects. It acknowledged the need for a balanced standard form given the sector growth internationally due to the net carbon zero agenda. Could this suit Ireland's ORE pathway? We consider the type of contract currently used for this type of project...