Work on the potential development of a wind farm in Manx waters took a step forward when a wave measurement buoy and subsea temperature monitoring device were deployed.

Renewable energy company Ørsted is looking at an area of the coast of Maughold, which overlaps with an area being explored by gas extraction developer Crogga.

The Manx government granted a least to Ørsted to do the work in 2015.

The deployment of the measurement buoy, Fugro’s Seawatch Midi buoy, is the latest step in the survey and exploration work at the proposed site, which is six to 12 nautical miles off the coast to determine its suitability for an offshore wind farm.

The addition of a subsea temperature monitoring device to this buoy will gather data for the first time on water temperature to the east of the Isle of Man.

It is hoped in the coming months and years that this data will be used by to track trends and monitor the growing impact on the marine environment from global climate change.

Development director at Ørsted John Galloway said: ‘The deployment of this device off the east coast of the Isle of Man is just part of the wide range of surveys that we have been carrying out over the years as we design this project.

‘We’re extremely proud that we’ve been able to repurpose and reuse a wave measurement buoy from one of our existing Irish Sea projects - yet another signal of Ørsted’s commitment to sustainability and driving down the cost of offshore wind.’

Fugro has more than 100 data buoys presently deployed around Europe, including 10 for Ørsted.

Earlier this year, Ørsted opened its Isle of Man, located in Athol Street, Douglas, that will serve as the hub for the company’s further development of renewable energy projects in the Irish Sea.

Ørsted and Crogga say that, despite the proximity of the potential wind farm and gas exploration, they can work side by side.

Plans for potential onshore wind farms, announced last month, are separate developments.

Ørsted has 12 operational offshore wind farms in the UK, providing more than 5.5GW (Gigawatts) of renewable electricity for the UK.

This includes six offshore wind farm projects located in the Irish Sea between the UK and the Isle of Man.

Its newest array, Hornsea 2, off the coast of Yorkshire, is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and makes a significant contribution to Ørsted’s global ambition of installing 30GW (Gigawatts) offshore wind by 2030.