Bord Gáis to develop wind-farm project with Macquarie’s Corio

Joint venture between the pair marks major move for Centrica-owned utility firm

Bord Gáis Energy is teaming up with a unit of the Australian investment giant Macquarie Asset Management in a joint venture to develop offshore wind farms around Ireland, the Irish Independent has learned.

It’s a major new strategy for the Centrica-owned utility, which is not currently involved in any offshore wind energy projects. The cost of a large-scale development typically starts at more than €1bn.

Macquarie’s Corio Generation unit, whose CEO is Jonathan Cole, is a specialist developer of offshore wind farms.

Alongside Bord Gáis Energy, it has formed a new company called Young Energy Holding, with Bord Gáis Energy owning 30pc and a UK-based firm controlled by Corio owning the remainder. Bord Gáis Energy’s managing director is Dave Kirwan.

The two companies confirmed the joint venture plan last night. “Bord Gáis Energy and Corio are exploring opportunities to supply green, reliable and renewable energy from offshore wind to Irish homes and businesses,” the companies said in a statement.

The joint venture comes amid a continuing push to deploy renewable generation assets in Ireland so the country can meet a target of generating 80pc of its energy requirements from green sources by 2030.

The Government aims to have seven gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity deployed by that date.

Corio Generation is already involved in the Irish energy sector. In conjunction with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, it’s developing the Sceirde Rocks wind farm off the west coast. The 450MW project is slated for completion in 2030.

It’s the first commercial-scale offshore wind project on the west coast and will likely cost about €1bn to build.

Last week, the Government published its draft South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for offshore renewable energy. This is being billed as the State’s first sub-national, forward maritime spatial plan for offshore renewable energy.

Last year, the Government awarded capacity to four offshore wind farms, in the State’s first ever offshore wind energy auction. Those four projects will generate up to a combined 3.1GW of electricity.

They include the Sceirde Rocks project, as well as the 1.3GW Codling Wind Park that’s being developed by Fred Olsen Seawind and France’s EDF Renewables. The other two approved projects are the 824MW Dublin Array, backed by Germany’s RWE and Saorgus Energy, and the 500MW North Irish Sea Array that’s being built by Statkraft Ireland.

The four offshore wind farms could generate as much as a quarter of Ireland’s estimated electricity demand by 2030.

Another offshore wind energy auction is expected later this year and will target projects off the south coast with a view to procuring 900MW of projects.

The Government aims to have 37GW of offshore wind energy capacity installed by 2050.

Bord Gáis Energy has a number of generation assets in Ireland, including a 445MW gas-fired power station at Whitegate in Co Cork.

The company is spending more than €250m to build two gas-fired flexible generating stations in Roscommon and Dublin. They’re expected to be completed later this year.

Bord Gáis Energy has agreements with a number of companies – including Amarenco and Neoen – to develop solar energy farms. It’s also involved in jointly developing green hydrogen storage facilities at the decommissioned Kinsale gas field reservoirs.