Ireland's Bord Gáis Adding 1,500 Megawatts of New Electricity Capacity

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Irish energy provider Bord Gáis (Cork) plans to create 500 jobs and roll out up to 1,500 megawatts (MW) of new electricity capacity in the next few years.

The national gas company, which entered the electricity-generation market in February 2009, has aggressively stolen market share from Ireland's leading energy company, Electricity Supply Board (ESB) (Dublin). Bord Gáis plans to become a leading generator of renewable electricity, despite having posted a 22% drop in profits for 2009 versus 2008.

The company aims to leverage the 500 million-euro ($617 million) acquisition of Ireland's largest independent wind energy company, SWS Natural Resources (Cork), which occurred last December. The current output by SWS is about 179 MW of energy, which is capable of capable of supplying 70,000 homes, but under a five-year plan SWS will boost this figure to 1,000 MW.

"Bord Gáis remains highly profitable and a very significant state asset," said Chief Executive John Mullins, releasing the financial results. "Profits before tax reached 119 million euros ($147.4 million) for 2009, and while this is down by 32 million euros ($39.6 million) on 2008, it represents a strong performance, as Bord Gáis reduced gas prices three times in a 12-month period and undertook a substantial investment programme involving acquisitions, as well as capital expenditure in the core business."

Mullins added: "The acquisition of SWS provides the company with large-scale renewable energy capacity, and together with the commissioning of the 445-MW Whitegate power station in 2010, represent major milestones in the development and growth of Bord Gáis. Over the next decade, the company will invest 3 billion euros in the Irish economy, creating significant employment and substantially growing the value of our assets."

Apart from SWS, Bord Gáis spent 50 million euros ($61.7 million) in November 2008 on the company's first windfarm, a 30-MW development in Galway that will be operational in 2011. The company has already purchased the working 32-MW Sorne windfarm in Donegal for 100 million euros ($123 million) and was in negotiations to buy a second windfarm development in Tipperary that would increase SWS' wind power generation capacity to 120 MW.

In addition to renewable energy, Bord Gáis said that its first power plant, a 445-MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant in Whitegate, County Cork, on the southwest coast of Ireland, is on track. The plant is scheduled to be operational by July this year and will be capable of generating enough electricity for approximately 500,000 homes. Last June, Bord Gáis awarded the operations and maintenance contract to GE Energy Services, part of the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut). For related news, see June 29, 2009, article - Ireland's Bord Gáis Says First CCGT Plant "On Schedule."

Bord Gáis is currently waiting to see whether or not the Irish government will force it to spin-off the company's distribution business into a separate company in order to increase competition in the market. Electricity rivals ESB and Airtricity (Dublin, Ireland), part of Scottish and Southern Energy (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland) are believed to be considering entering the Irish gas market.

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