Irish firms part of €60bn sea energy deal

TWO IRISH companies are partners in groups that are set to spend more than €60 billion developing wind farms off the British coast over the next decade.

Mainstream Renewable Power and SSE Renewables have won exclusive rights from the British state to develop offshore wind farms off that country’s coast.

Britain’s Crown Estate, whose responsibilities include developing its coastline, handed out the exclusive rights to develop offshore wind farms in nine zones in the North Sea and Irish Sea yesterday.

Dublin-based SSE Renewables, of which Airtricity is a part, is a member of two consortiums that were awarded the right to develop offshore wind farms with a total of 12,5000 mega watts (MW) of electricity.

SSE is a 50 per cent partner in the Seagreen Wind Energy consortium with multinational engineering group Flour, which has been given the rights to develop wind farms with a capacity of 3,500MW in a zone off Scotland’s Firth of Forth.

SSE has a one-quarter share with multinationals RWE Npower Renewables, Statoil and Statkraft in a second group, which has the rights to build farms with a 9,000MW capacity on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

Mainstream Renewable Power, the business started two years ago by Airtricity founder Eddie O’Connor, is a partner with German engineering giant, Siemens, which has won the right to develop 4,000MW in the Hornsea zone off the coast of northeast England.

In all, Britain gave exclusive rights to different bidders to develop wind farms with a total capacity of 32,000MW of electricity, which could provide enough energy for 24 million homes. On average, wind farms operate 35 per cent of the time.

The total investment involved is projected at €110 billion, or roughly €3.4 million per MW. On that basis, the groups in which the Irish companies are involved will spend €62 billion. The farms are set to be developed over 10 years.

Following the announcement yesterday, Brian Britton, secretary of the National Offshore Wind association (NOW) Ireland, pointed out that farms with the capacity to generate 4,000MW would be built in the Irish Sea, creating an opportunity for industry in this country.

“Already Harland Wolff in Belfast has taken a lead in this area, and Enterprise Ireland and the IDA should be taking this announcement very seriously and seeking to build Ireland as a green energy centre,” he said.