FORESHORE LICENCE APPLICATION FS006889 Cable Installation Planning Report Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION PART I – THE CABLE ROUTE 2.0 CABLE ROUTE IN IRISH WATERS 3.0 MARINE SURVEY REPORTS 4.0 NAVIGATIONAL SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS 5.0 ROUTE POSITION LIST PART II – CABLE INSTALLATION 6.0 THE CABLE 7.0 INSTALLATION Appendices Appendix 1 Drawings Appendix 2 Cable route considerations Foreshore Application Report 2 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay 1.0 INTRODUCTION The Planned Cable 1.1 America Europe Connect 2 is a subsea fibre optic telecommunication cable system which runs for approximately 7,866 kilometres (km) across the Atlantic Ocean seabed from New Jersey in the USA to Denmark, with a branch into Norway and a proposed branch into Ireland (Figure 1). Figure 1. America Europe Connect 2 Transatlantic Cable Route 1.2 The project is referred to as the America Europe Connect 2 (AEC2) System and specific location points on it are as follows; ➢ US Landfall ▪ Avon-by-the Sea, New Jersey ➢ Branching Unit for Ireland ▪ Rockall Trough 287kms off the northwest coast of Ireland ➢ Irish Landfall ▪ Fallduff Strand, Old Head, Co, Mayo ➢ Norwegian Landfall ▪ Kristiansand, Norway ➢ Danish Landfall ▪ Nymindegab South, Rinkøbing, Denmark. Foreshore Application Report 3 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay 1.3 As of 1st November 2020, cable landings associated with the cable system have already been carried out in USA, Denmark and Norway. 7,716 km or 98.1% of the cable route has already been installed and is operational. 140 km of the Irish branch has also already been installed. This remaining uninstalled 150 km of the Irish branch accounts for 1.9% of the overall system. 1.4 Aqua Comms is a provider of bandwidth infrastructure services including dark fibre, wavelengths and ethernet whose subsea fibre optic networks are designed to meet the needs of content providers, cloud-based networks, data centres, IT companies and the global media. The company specialises in sub-sea telecoms and owns and operates the AEConnect-1 TransAtlantic cable (Killala to New York) and CeltixConnect-1 (which runs from Dublin to Anglesey in the UK). 1.5 This proposed development was issued a Foreshore Licence (FS006889) by the Minister for State, Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on 6th February 2020. This licence authorised AEC2 to install a sub-sea fibre optic telecommunication cable on the Foreshore off Old Head Louisburg, Co. Mayo and travelling along a pre-defined route to a point at the Irish Territorial Sea Boundary. The licence was quashed further to the institution of Judicial review proceedings and the matter remitted to the Minister for reconsideration on certain terms. This Planning Report is being submitted as part of the remitted application process 1.6 Included with the remitted Foreshore Licence Application is an Environmental Report, with associated appendices including; • Cable Characteristics, • Vessel, Equipment and Material Resources List, • Marine Survey Report, • Marine Archaeological Assessment Reports. Also included with the remitted Foreshore Licence Application are an Appropriate Assessment Screening Report and Natura Impact Statement, as well as an Environmental Impact Assessment Screening Report. Foreshore Application Report 4 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Part 1 The Cable Route Foreshore Application Report 5 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay 2.0 CABLE ROUTE IN IRISH WATERS Landfall - General Location 2.1 The planned cable route has a landfall at Fallduff Strand, Old Head (Figure 2) on the southern side of Clew Bay. It is 3.3km east of Louisburgh and 20km west of Westport. Figure 2. Landfall Location Foreshore Application Report 6 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Landfall - Detailed Location 2.2 The detailed location of the cable landing is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Old Head Landfall 2.3 On 4th February 2019, under Planning Reference No. 18/833, Mayo County Council granted planning permission for the construction of a single storey cable landing station, with associated fencing, underground cabling, plant and ancillary works, including Beach Manhole, at Old Head, Louisburg, Co. Mayo. The cable landing station and all associated infrastructure was constructed in 2019. The Beach Manhole is located in the grass strip between the coastline and the road (Figure 3) to the east of the access path to the beach. The Beach Manhole is above the High-Water Line. 2.4 The routing of the cable on the beach is designed to keep clear of the listed Possible Wreck Site – 11423. The route then proceeds seaward in accordance with the Route Position List as presented in Table 1. Foreshore Application Report 7 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay KEY TURNING POINTS (TO WGS-84) Chainage Turning Point Latitude Longitude (km) TP 0 (BMH) 0 53 46.5870N 009 46.2460W TP 5 1.233 53 47.1225N 009 45.6297W TP 10 2.536 53 47.7698N 009 45.6457W TP 15 5.081 53 48.3360N 009 47.7005W TP 20 21.188 53 51.1164N 010 01.5384W TP 30 27.465 53 51.7902N 010 07.0811W TP 40 36.919 53 54.4348N 010 14.3618W TP 75 57.597 53 59.9583N 010 30.3021W TP 99 (Exit Ireland TS) 72.842 54 04.7693N 010 41.3194W Table 1: Route Position List 2.5 The location of the route corridor and the landfall at Fallduff Strand, Old Head is shown on the 6” to 1-mile Ordnance Survey map and the 1/2,500 Ordnance Survey map in Figures 4 & 5 respectively. Foreshore Application Report 8 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Figure 4. Landfall Location on 6” Ordnance Survey Map (scale 1:2500) Foreshore Application Report 9 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Figure 5. Landfall Location on Ordnance Survey Map (scale1/10560) Foreshore Application Report 10 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Inshore 2.6 The Inshore Route is shown in Figure 6 on an Admiralty Chart base. The start of the route is designated as Kilometre Point 00 (BMH). It is also Turning Point 00 (TP00) which is at the high water line and it marks the land-sea interface at Fallduff Strand, Old Head. Figure 6. Inshore Route 2.7 The figure shows the route heading slightly east of north to keep clear of the headland of Old Head. It crosses the 10-metre water depth contour at approximately Kp 01 between TP04 and TP05. 2.8 At TP6 the route starts turning to the north and then to the northwest to complete an arc at TP13. At that point the route heads in a north-westerly direction on a heading of 289⁰ towards the channel between Clare Island and Achill Island. Foreshore Application Report 11 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Clew Bay 2.9 The route lies within Clew Bay over a distance of approximately 25 kilometres (Figure 7). 2.10 At the early stage of the project consideration was given to alternative routes. A full description of these considerations is provided in Appendix 2 Figure 7. Figure 10 – Route in Clew Bay 2.11 On leaving Old Head and taking up a north-westerly course at Kp 3.573 the route continues on that general heading (approximately 289⁰). The route is designed to avail of optimum sea-bed conditions, to avoid areas which could be problematic from the point of view of cable installation and to have regard for environmental and underwater archaeological constraints. 2.12 At Kp 15 (adjacent to TP19) the route enters the channel between Clare Island and Achill Island. The channel is 3.75 kms wide at its narrowest point and water depth along the line of the cable route is largely constant at 25 metres. Foreshore Application Report 12 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay Offshore Route 2.13 The Offshore Route in Irish waters extends from Kp 25, which lies to the south of Dooega Head on Achill Island, out to the 12-Mile Limit at approximately Kp 70. Water depth increases from 50 metres at Kp 25 to approximately 150 metres at the 12-Mile Limit. 2.14 The general heading of the route is 298⁰ from Kp 20 out to Kp 30. It swings to a heading of 282⁰. at Kp 30 and continues out to the 12-Mile boundary. 2.15 Beyond the 12-Mile Limit the route continues in a north-westerly direction and passes south of the Corrib Gas Field at an offset of approximately 7 kilometres at Kp 107. Foreshore Application Report 13 November 2020 America Europe Connect 2 Main Lay 3.0 MARINE SURVEY REPORT OF THE IRISH BRANCH 3.1 A Marine Survey Report has been prepared and is included as an Appendix to the Environmental Report which accompanies this application. The marine survey covered a 500-metre-wide corridor out to the 1000m water depth and included; • Bathymetry • Side Scan Sonar • Sub-Bottom Profiling • Magnetometer 3.2 The Inshore section included a Diver-Swim survey. 3.3 The associated site investigations included 3 Trial Pits and 19 bar probes on the beach at Fallduff Strand, Old Head. Offshore site investigations included a mixture of Core Penetration Tests (CPT’s) and Gravity Cores (GC’s). 3.4 A summary of the marine survey report is as follows; The survey which is covered by this report covers the deep and shallow water sections. The water depths varied between 2845m at the Branching Unit in the Rockall Trough (BU1) to 25m at the inshore limit of the Shallow Water Survey near Old Head.