European Windfall for Irish Onshore Windfarms

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Ireland's onshore wind capacity will experience a marked increase in the next couple of years thanks to the provision of a €155 million ($202.5 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The loan has been granted to the country's gas and energy company, Bord Gais (Cork), for the development of six onshore windfarms with a combined generating capacity of 141-megawatts (MW). The windfarms are located in the counties of Tipperary, Clare and Kilkenny and will help boost the company's onshore capacity from 234 MW to 365 MW. Bord Gais said the total investment in the projects will come to €311 million by the time the windfarms are completed during 2013 and 2014.

"The European Investment Bank is pleased to support long-term investment in renewable energy in Ireland," explained European Investment Bank Vice President, Mihai Tanasescu. "The Bord Gáis programme uses a free natural resource that exists in abundance in Ireland and will create jobs across the country. The European Investment Bank backs renewable energy investment across Europe and is pleased to work closely with Bord Gáis to ensure Ireland plays a key role. Completion of these projects will contribute to the achievement of the Irish Government's renewable energy targets."

In the past five year's Ireland has benefitted from more than 1.4 billion from the EIB, which has been spent on renewable energy projects, improvements to transmission grid, electric car infrastructure and gas power generation.

Dave Kirwan, Managing-Director of Bord Gáis Energy, added: "The EIB's funding of our wind farm projects is a major vote of confidence in the strategic direction of the company and, indeed, in Irish Government policy in relation to promoting wind energy development in Ireland. Bord Gáis is a significant player in the wind industry in Ireland, operating over 15% of installed capacity and powering nearly 180,000 homes across the country. Over the next three years, we will add a further 250 MW of wind generating capacity to our portfolio".

Bord Gáis owns and operates 132 turbines on 13 windfarms across eight counties - Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Donegal and Tyrone.

The Irish government has made wind energy the cornerstone of its renewable energy target of generating 40% of the country's power from renewables by 2020.

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