Bord Gáis signs €100m wind energy deal

Bord Gaís has agreed a €100 million deal to enter the wind energy sector in a move likely to significantly shake-up the energy market.

The State-owned gas supply and distribution company has signed a 17-year deal with a group of businessmen and farmers in Co Donegal to acquire their wind power. The €100 million deal has been agreed between Bord Gáis Energy Supply and the owners of the Sorne Windfarm, Sorne Wind Limited. The owners will sell all of their output to Bord Gaís for the next 17 years.

According to information lodged with the Companies Office the owners of Sorne Wind Farm Ltd are Terence Murray, a landscape consultant, John Ward, also a landscape consultant and Enda McMonagle, a farmer from Falcarragh, Co Donegal.

The three hold almost equal shares and have stakes in other wind farm developments.

The wind farm will consist of 16 turbines producing two megawatts each. This would produce enough power to supply about 25,000 homes. The wind farm is scheduled to be operational by next June.

The deal with Sorne Energy Limited will add significant capacity to the Bord Gaís power portfolio.

Bord Gaís is currently gaining market share in the electricity market at the expense of ESB and other companies. However, a major constraint on its growth up to now has been its lack of generation capacity.

It has been been buying power from the ESB via auctions and also has a contract with the Synergen power plant in Ringsend which is jointly owned by Statoil and ESB.

The gas company has also started taking electricity from the ESB plant at Coolkeeragh, Co Derry.

Contacted yesterday, Paul Kenny, acting head of Bord Gáis energy supply, confirmed the company had concluded a deal with a wind farm company in Donegal but would not comment on the value of the transaction.

Mr Kenny said that "additional liquidity is key to developing a competitive electricity market in Ireland and wind generation can play a key role in this regard".

He said the deal would add a large source of renewable power to the Bord Gaís portfolio and took the company one step closer to achieving its stated objective of becoming a major player in the electricity market.

Bord Gáis Energy Supply had electricity sales of € 124 million in 2004 and supplied electricity to over 2,000 sites in Ireland. It started selling electricity in 2001 and now holds a 7 per cent share of the retail electricity market.

While currently serving the business market only, the company has signalled its intention to eventually enter the residential electricity market. Bord Gáis has over 500,000 natural gas customers.

The wind farm involved is located on Sorne Hill and Meenkeeragh Hill, a few kilometres east of Buncrana, Co Donegal. It is understood the necessary planning permission and grid connections have been obtained.