Photo by: Harry Cunningham @harry.digital/Pexels
The French renewable energy firm Neoen has announced that it is buying eight wind farms, with a capacity of 53 MW, in the Republic of Ireland for €25.8-million.
The wind farms are all selling their output under long-term power purchase agreements, or PPAs.
Neoen already owns a development business in Ireland and has been working alongside the Irish government to raise renewable energy and interconnection targets.The country is expected to miss its 2020 targets.
The contribution to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) from the wind farms would be insignificant this year, Neoen said. It would, therefore, keep its annual guidance unchanged. From 2020, the Irish wind farms will be generating about €5-million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) before any optimisation or repowering investments, it estimated.
“Ireland has a very high potential for the development of renewable energy, boosted by the achievement of grid parity,” said Neoen chief executive Xavier Barbaro.
Grid parity is a major target and relates to when the cost of renewable energy equates to the commercial wholesale market costs. It is the door that leads towards the development of non-subsidised renewables backed by PPAs, which is a speciality for Neoen.
The renewables firm said that the farms had been strategically built at locations that are wind-rich and with significant potential for repowering.
The Irish wind farms, with an enterprise value of €46-million, were acquired from the Irish Infrastructure Fund and Energia Group and were commissioned between 1998 and 2012.
Neoen said it was looking at fresh offtake deals while exploring “promising repowering potential for the oldest of these assets, in order to better tap the wind resources”.
Electricity interconnection to France and the UK would be “critical to absorbing high levels of renewable generation on to the system”, the Irish authorities said.
The 700-megawatt Celtic Interconnector to France is expected to be operational by 2026.
The French firm said it had 2.8 gigawatts of renewable capacity in operation or under construction in France, Australia, Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina, Finland, Zambia, Jamaica and Portugal.
Neoen says it runs Europe’s largest solar farm in Cestas, France, and the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Hornsdale, Australia.
Neoen last month said its Australian plant was operating “slightly above” expectations hopes to build 3 gigawatts of renewable developments in the country.
The Numurkah solar farm took a year to build and employed about 300 people during the construction. Its 128 MW capacity includes 373,839 photovoltaic panels over 515 hectares. It intends to partly power Melbourne’s tram network.
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