Danish renewables developer Ørsted today cast more sunlight on its intended diversification away from its core wind turbine business, as it snapped up its first solar PV project in Ireland.
The 70MW Ballinrea project near Cork is being acquired for an undisclosed sum from its Irish initiators Terra Solar, the Danes told investors this morning.
The farm is planned to be generating by 2024, in quantities meeting the needs of up to 16,000 homes, a target equivalent to almost all the new dwellings planned for Cork, the nation’s second city, between now and 2028.
Kieran White, Ørsted vice president of European Onshore, hailed today’s deal: “The transaction marks a significant milestone as it’s the first Irish solar project acquisition for the company”.
“This project will make a meaningful contribution to Ireland’s national energy target of 80% renewable electricity by 2030, and to the Irish government’s new 5.5 GW solar target. ”
Ørsted’s new onshore division has an ambition to grow its global portfolio to a 50:50 split between wind and solar PV sometime before 2030.
Ørsted’s acquisition in July of German renewables developer Ostwind brings it access to solar projects in the French and German markets. The move added to its ambitions to develop a substantial portfolio of solar projects in Spain together with four local partners, announced in a deal the month before.
Globally Ørsted has approximately 5GW of capacity in operation and under construction across onshore wind, solar, and storage. Of that total, 1.3 GW is solar. The company is on track to reach a total of 17.5 GW onshore capacity globally by 2030.
